


Iron Hearts, Fire Souls

by hopelesswriter



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry Styles, Alpha Louis Tomlinson, Alpha/Alpha, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bonding, Co-workers, Ends as quick as it starts, Flirting, Fluff and Smut, If you squint you'll miss:, Jealous Harry, Jealous Louis, Lawyer Harry, Lawyer Louis, Light Angst, M/M, Masturbation, Mating, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Rut, Scenting, Sexual Tension, They are literally addicted to the other's scent, Top Harry, Top Louis, they kinda share that really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:41:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelesswriter/pseuds/hopelesswriter
Summary: "Lou..."“I know, Harry! I know what you’ll say, we can’t right? We can’t help each other’s needs? We can’t be what the other needs? But fuck, what about what we want?! And I say we because you’ve been saying yes to all of our dates and you've been flirting back all this time and-“ He took a deep breath. “And there is nothing that I want more right now than to kiss you.”Or the one where Harry and Louis are two single and unmated Lawyer Alphas that have to share an office and even though they shouldn't be that attracted to each other's scents, it sure isn't a big deal, right? I mean, what could go wrong?
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 46
Kudos: 391





	Iron Hearts, Fire Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my comeback after years away and i really hope everyone enjoy this one. It's my first try at ABO Dynamics and i'm really happy with how it turned out.
> 
> Hope everyone is safe and sound and taking care of themselves and of the ones they love.
> 
> I'd like to send a huge thanks to Gigi aka [ OhHarold](https://ohharold.tumblr.com/) for not only making this lovely moodboard but also being my amazing beta. You're awesome.♥
> 
> And a huge thanks to Jen, who printed this Alpha/Alpha thing so deep into my brain that 8k words soon turned into +20k and i really hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Please leave a comment or a kudo if you like it!
> 
> Much love,  
> Andi.

**__ **

**_April, 2023_ **

Harry checked himself one last time in the rear-view mirror after turning the radio off. He then adjusted his shades back to where they were before they slipped down the bridge of his nose. Before stepping out of his car, he grabbed his coat and his suitcase with an easy smile on his lips, dimples digging deeper when an omega, he recognized from three floors down, waved at him.

“Good morning, Mr. Styles.” She was quite pretty and there was a flirty scent flowing off of her, mixed with something floral.

He politely greeted her back and went on his way down to the parking lot of the building he’d worked at for about two years at that point. He was an assistant district attorney, defending the forgotten and those who had faced injustice by the system - usually taking on every  _ pro bono _ case he could handle at once; he was his mom’s golden boy, really.

He was approached by several other employees and smiled at every single one of them, except Niko from Civil Rights because fuck him, really. Harry shook his head when he got in the lift, laughing to himself when the beta guy flipped him off like every day in that joking manner between the two of them since he lost a bet to him - it was entirely his fault in the first place but still, the way their eyes shoot daggers at each other made Niko chuckle every morning.

His office was on the 23 rd floor and it took him a while to get there, always enjoying whichever lounge music played in the elevator. Lena, his beloved secretary, honestly bless her, wasn’t at her desk, which was just down the hall from his door. Harry didn’t think much of it - she would definitely let him know if something had come up and she wouldn’t be showing up to work, so she was most probably having some coffee with her wife a few floors down.

Working in a building as big as that one, with a number close to 500 employees, was definitely a challenge when it came to his physiology. There were too many scents flowing through the air 24/7, most of them belonging to omegas and betas, and it wasn’t really a bother. Of course it was advised for people to use scent blockers whenever they felt like it and many of them did, but Harry had made a huge speech about being proud of who you are and accepting the others as they are as well. So if people couldn’t act like civilized human beings around scents, Harry definitely didn’t want them in his building. Oh yes, he  _ owned _ the building, so not only was he the youngest ADA in the state of New York at the age of 28, but he also had bought the whole building with the stupid inheritance that his grandfather left for him; it was so immense and ludicrous that he could simply not charge a lot of people and still make a lot of money with the Styles Law firm - which is exactly what he and most of the lawyers in his company did. 

He made sure to interview everyone who applied for a job in the company personally, even if they had their own area or jurisdiction, if he didn’t like the person, based on how they answered simple questions about society and civil rights and equality, he would make sure to transfer them out as soon as possible. And when he couldn’t hold the interviews himself, he’d ask Lena to do it for him, that’s how qualified she was. A true blessing in his life. She used to be a cop from Special Victims Unit but a bad injury from a gunshot put her behind a desk and instead of staying in law enforcement, she decided to help with the law itself, as a personal secretary for the best firm in town, being the perfect example as to why people should never belittle people for their jobs.

But anyways, he had gotten used to the scents, and the flirts too if he was being honest, he was an unmatched Alpha after all and if what his friends said about him was the truth, he was quite a catch. So he was used to lots of mixed scents and since being an Alpha, his nose had always been both a curse and a blessing when it came to that, because sometimes not even the strongest scent blockers could keep the post smell of a heat coming off an omega from inebriating his nostrils.

Steps firm and sure across the carpeted hallway to his office, the first thing that hit him before he could even reach his door was in fact a scent, a different one, strong in presence and intensity. It made his nose scrunch up for a second because that was- that was definitely an Alpha scent coming from his office, like an invisible thread connecting itself to Harry’s senses and for some unknown reason causing him to miss a step and almost trip. Once he got closer to the door, his brows furrowed because he had checked his morning appointments and there was definitely no Alpha scheduled and, had this person slipped past both the security guards  _ and  _ Lena?

Before he could reach for the doorknob, he realised there was also music coming from the room, very bubbly and low volume, low enough not to disturb the other offices but was that-

_ It means no worries _ _  
_ _ For the rest of your days... _

Yep, it was definitely  _ Hakuna Matata _ from The Lion King, but the 2019 version... ew.

Very confused and now a bit intrigued, Harry opened the door and found something that most definitely wasn’t there when he left on Friday night. Another desk, in front of the glass wall-window right across from his and there was a person- no, a guy, definitely a man, an Alpha man - on the floor under the unbelonging new desk, on his hands and knees and even though it was highly inappropriate, he couldn’t help but notice he had a nice arse. Harry could also hear him humming along to the song as he did something with the computer wires under the table. Surprisingly enough, he had yet to notice Harry’s presence.

Since he’d been glued to the floor by the door frame because of the scene in front of his face, hand firm on the doorknob, Harry couldn’t really blame the guy- not every Alpha had his predator sense of smell. He finally let go of the door and took all but two steps into the room before the guy jolted in surprise from underneath the desk, hitting his head in the process.

_ “Shit.” _

\----

With a hand rubbing the back of his head and the other supporting his weight, the guy shifted until he was now sitting on the floor, moving out from underneath the desk.

“ _ Ow _ ! Give a poor lad some warning will ya?”

His heavy British accent caught Harry by surprise, not as much as the softness of his voice though.

“Sorry,” rushing forward and offering a hand, Harry felt his cheeks heating up for some reason.

The guy looked up at him from the floor and then at his hand, then back right into his eyes before his nose twitched the tiniest bit- not enough to be rude but enough for Harry to notice. And, well, it was pretty obvious that Alphas  _ can _ share a space without any problems, but it isn’t always that pleasant when it comes to scents. It’s as if their bodies start to automatically release more pheromones just to prove to the other Alpha who was in charge, who owns that territory. Which reminded Harry...

“Sorry, but who are you?” He asked as the guy awkwardly accepted his hand to get up and… he was even prettier up close, smaller than Harry and he felt like slapping himself on the back of the head because the first thought that came to his mind was ‘ _ if I wasn’t able to smell him, I would definitely bet he was an omega’ _ and that thought was just bluntly stupid and prejudicial – or maybe Harry had just been a bit too lonely lately.

“I’m Louis. Tomlinson.” The guy stated with a firmer tone in his voice now and Harry knew better than to think he was trying to be rude. Biology was a thing after all.

“Oh, nice to-” Harry realized then he was still holding the guy’s hand and awkwardly shook it before stepping back with a small laugh, “Nice to meet you, I’m Harry Styles.”

A soft looking brow rose at that statement, “Styles as in  _ the _ Styles, and Harry as in the ADA Harry Styles?”

Nodding twice he confirmed, “That’s me… and I’m sorry but what are you doing in my office?”

The guy- Louis, Harry reminded himself- shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been working on the 13 th floor for a few months now, but yesterday this huge arse pipe burst through our wall so we’re all being rearranged to other offices for the time being.”

Lena had definitely not mentioned any of that to him and most certainly she did not text or- oh…

Groaning as he walked to his desk, placing his suitcase on the surface, then hanging his suit jacket on a hook behind his desk as he continued, “I actually forgot that my niece tried to flush my phone down the toilet Saturday night and I couldn’t get a hold of Lena to ask her help with that, and my laptop was here because I wanted the weekend away from work so I didn’t check my email either-“ He sighed and realized just now that he was still wearing sunglasses inside, rude. He folded them on the collar of his button down shirt – it was a soft shade of blue with white laurels all over it.

Louis was watching him with an amused expression.

“Yes?”

The guy chuckled and went back to tidy up his still non belonging table in Harry’s office. “I’m guessing you’re one of  _ those _ Alphas that have an omega do all the work for you, then.” He almost muttered the words but Harry heard them.

“No, definitely not, if there’s something that I cannot stand is this forced hierarchy among us. Lena is just like my guardian angel, really. And she helps me not to freak out about every little thing every second of my day, that is nothing to do with the fact she’s an omega.” He answered as softly as he could but he knew by the expression in Louis' face that the guy knew he meant every word.

“Alright.” Louis said while pulling the chair back to its place in front of the desk.

“But wait... why  _ my _ office though?” Harry frowned again, remembering the subject in hand.

Louis shrugged. “Lena texted me yesterday and said I could either set my things here or near the boiler room. I guessed you knew. Sorry.” He sighed as he looked at the already set and ready for work table. “But I can move all of it out of your sight if you’d like.” He offered sheepishly.

Harry considered it for a beat or two and looked around. There was still a pretty big portion of the window wall visible even with the new desk there; there were bookshelves all around the room, a small couch with a coffee table in front of it and a pair of upholstered maroon chairs. “Well… it’s a pretty big office, as long as we can respect each other’s space for work,” He smiled softly and sat down, getting ready for another week of work. “I don’t see why not.”

Let me tell you why not. Because this guy - man - was one of the prettiest people Harry had ever seen. Plus he worked on the 13 th floor, that meant Special Victims Unit and that alone was enough to make Louis some kind of saint in Harry’s eyes, but also… he was an Alpha, with a capital A, and just this small exchange between them had made Harry’s inner Alpha stir inside, telling him to stand his ground, to show that this was his territory and maybe even release his scent a bit on purpose just so Louis knew who was in charge.    
  
So that’s why the hell not. When Harry wasn’t in court, he was in his office, period- apart from the times when Lena forced him to go home to rest, but still. Being around another Alpha, especially one with such a noticeable presence would not be easy.

Then Louis smiled at him. “Okay then, I’ll get to work! Let me know if I can help with anything.” And then he was sitting in his chair, his hands reaching for his laptop, his eye visible over its lid, a few wrinkles announcing a soft smile. He had a nice smile.

Maybe this wouldn’t be a bad idea after all.

\---

**_Two weeks later, April, 2023_ **

It was definitely a bad idea, the worst even, and if Harry could fire Lena, he would- no he would never, but oh boy did he blame her for what he’d been doing for the past minutes.

It had been a long week of court trials, he had barely spent any time in his office, but every time he stepped into the room, Louis would look up at him, catching his scent before anything, smiling gently before going back to his own business, earbuds in place as he moved his head softly with whatever beat he listened to.

Lena had simply laughed in his face when he whined at her for putting a cute Alpha to share an office with him.  _ The nerve _ . She had explained that he seemed a bit lonely in general, spending too much time at work anyways and not having enough fun. So when her wife, also from SVU, told her about the pipe mishap, she immediately thought it was a great idea. Louis was fun, handsome, 30 years old, he was also really smart, like scarily smart, incredibly imposing, really grounded when it came to his cases and absolutely lovely about his friends and family.

Lena had done a great job in selling Louis’ character, which was exactly the problem.

Especially when he looked so pretty sitting with his legs crossed and back relaxed into one of the upholstered chairs they had in their office-  _ Harry’s _ office. 

His eyes looked tired and soft, fingers pinching his bottom lip as he focused on the documents in his other hand. Harry knew he was staring, he just couldn’t help it, not really.

Louis smelled softly like something special and dark chocolate, and Harry was pretty sure he was either losing his mind or developing a crush on his Alpha co-worker. Or maybe both.

Suddenly Louis looked startled as if a brilliant idea had crossed his mind and clicked the pen to write down some notes with a winning look in his eyes, bottom lip between his teeth and yeah… definitely both.

\---

**_May, 2023_ **

“Harry, dear?” Lena began after two knocks on the door, pushing it open and poking her head in. Both Harry and Louis looked up from their own laptops. She smiled softly at Louis before turning back at Harry, walking to his desk when he waved her over.

The soft sound of typing resumed when the older Alpha went back to his work, head bobbing to whichever song was playing in his earbuds- low enough that he could hear the door being knocked on and not disturb Harry’s own work- not mattering how many times he’d told Louis that he didn’t mind listening to Disney songs all day.

“There is a… Miss Randall here to see you?” By the way Lena was cocking her perfectly shaped dark brow and twisting her nose, Harry knew that this woman was both unscheduled for an appointment and most probably rude; Lena was a sweetheart to everyone, but she had no time for rude people regardless of their gender. 

“Did she say what it was regarding?” He knew he sounded way less interested than he should but he’d been in this business long enough to know where this was probably heading.

Lena shook her head. “She just said it's important. That, and I quote, ‘ _ you won’t be wasting your time’ _ ”. His lips twisted involuntarily in a cheeky smile when the omega in front of him didn’t even bother trying to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Chuckling he decided. “Alright… I’ll take care of it. Ask her to wait for me in Meeting Room 3, please?”

Lena agreed and was about to leave when Louis spoke up. “Uh- You don’t have to leave your office, mate.” Harry was about to protest but the other guy was already pushing his chair back and grabbing his mug. “I need to stretch out anyways, and a refill. Just text me when the coast is clear and I’ll be back.” He smiled softly and there were bags under his eyes, he’d been working a lot lately on a major case and when he looked like that, Harry only wanted to cuddle up to him and sleep for days.

“Alright.” He finally agreed. “But you can be back in like half an hour, please, if she’s still here then you can rescue me. These unscheduled meetings are never good news.” He shook his head to erase the image of that one time an Alpha tried to actually bribe him and they ended up honest to god growling at each other until Lena called the securities on the guy. 

Louis nodded with an amused expression before leaving the room with Lena, quietly asking what Harry was on about, making him groan because she would  _ for sure _ tell, loving this story that he hated so much, cheeks most definitely not heating up at the thought.

\---

Turns out that Miss Randall, Alicia, was a lawyer from the other side in one of Harry’s cases and was disrespectfully trying to get him to drop the charges, without even having their clients involved.

“Because you see, it  _ was _ a misunderstanding.” She clarified obviously trying to deceive him. She uncrossed her legs and crossed them to the opposite side, hands clasping on her knee, body tilted forwards. She didn’t have any skin showing, wearing a grey turtleneck but it was pretty obvious that she was trying to use her body language to get him to agree with her.

They were sitting on the upholstered chairs side by side at a corner of the office, documents all over the coffee table in front of them and Harry really should have just talked to her at his desk, so she wouldn’t lean so close. 

Because of course she was an omega, and she was doing something that Harry absolutely despised: using her gender to get something out of the situation, out of him. She was shamelessly releasing her scent towards him and it could have been attractive, but in all honestly it was a bit nauseating and quite upsetting.

He was about to deny her arguments and proposal for the third time when Louis opened the door and fuck Harry hadn’t meant to sigh relieved but oh boy he was.

“Oh sorry I-“

“No!” Harry got up and interrupted before the other Alpha could turn back out of the office. “We’re done here, because as I’ve said a couple of times Miss Randall, I can’t and  _ will not  _ discuss any kind of deal without my client, so if you please excuse me.” He tried to sound as nice as possible as his hand gestured towards the door.

The woman looked startled for a second, her eyes switching between the two Alphas in the room, then she scoffed, gathered her papers, shoved in a folder unceremoniously and left the room without another word, nearly bumping against Louis’ shoulder in the process but he stepped away.

“Seems nice.” He joked while handing a mug to Harry who only then noticed the guy was holding two of those. He shrugged when he saw the curious look on those green eyes. “I guessed you could use a cuppa.”

Hairy smiled for the first time in the past half hour, Louis was really nice. A sudden loud aerosol sound being sprayed startled him. He couldn’t hold back a laugh when he saw Louis putting a can back inside his drawer.

“Did you just  _ Febreze _ the room?”

Louis shrugged and looked anything but guilty. “She left the room filthy, mate! I mean, I’m down for good smells too but it was just obscene.” There was a smile behind his voice and even if he was already sitting back on his chair and not looking at Harry anymore, the guy could see how amused the other was.

“Ha, right… anyways, thanks for rescuing me.” He lifted his mug on a cheering move, receiving a ‘no problem mate’. And then he was back to work, the room smelling much less like omega hormones and a lot like lavender Febreze, but also a tinge of chocolate.

\--

**_October, 2010_ **

“What do I smell like to ya?” His friend Niall had wondered once when they were about 15.

Harry had only stared at him with a frog like expression. “Like chips?”

“Fuck off mate! I mean my scent!” 

Oh.

“Oh.” Harry shrieked because that was such a Niall thing to ask. “I don’t know? I don’t just go around smelling people, Niall.”

The Irish lad grabbed another handful of chips before shoving them in his mouth. “Yo- no fun ah all.”

“And you’re disgusting.” Harry laughed with a twisted nose.

After swallowing down the food and a gulp of soda, the beta insisted. “But like, everyone has a scent right?” Harry nodded. “I was just wondering what I smell like to you.” He shrugged and went back to eating.

And that had been the first time Harry actually thought about scents with more interest. Because scents were just natural to everyone, especially to him as an Alpha with such a good nose. Though he understood what his friend meant. 

They grew up learning a lot in school about their biology and one of the things they had learned is that everyone has a scent, their  _ own _ scent, which is unique and unchangeable. You could soften it out with scent blockers but you could never really get rid of your scent, and that scent smelt differently to every person around you, based on your relationship or connection to them, on how much you knew or liked them. Sometimes people would just smell like the feelings they were carrying at the moment. Sometimes, mostly omegas would choose to release their scents more powerfully, usually to get the attention of an Alpha since biologically speaking, mating was the ultimate point of it all.

Harry hadn’t met many people with especial scents- that is what he called it- that he could name what they felt like. For example his mom smelled like lilacs and drizzles to him, his sister like sand and candy apples and he once had a teacher that literally smelled like a library and coffee like he actually scented of it. But apart from people he had a real connection with; he didn’t usually smell anything he could specify.

“Hm…” He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. Then he laughed. “You smell like Nando’s.”

Niall threw a cushion to his face. “Fuck you.” And then he was laughing too.

\---

Louis smelled like dark chocolate and something else.

\---

**_A week later, May 2023_ **

“Hey.” Louis started on a Monday around noon. Harry looked up from his phone and over his shoulder at him, he was sprawled on the two seater couch they had near the two chairs in the corner, reading some emails.

“Would you like to have lunch?” Louis smiled through the question but for some reason he sounded a bit nervous. “With me, I mean… Would you like to have lunch with me?”

Oh. Like a date?

“Like a date?” Harry quipped because that was the first thing his stupid brain could think of. 

“Uhm… well, if you’d like?” Louis rocked on his toes a bit because he couldn’t keep still.

Harry was completely taken by surprise by that, who was he kidding with? “Oh, I’m- I…”

“Oh you’re mated? Shit.” Louis laughed uncomfortably and fixed his hair. “Of course you are.”

“I’m not!” He got up from the couch on a reflex. “You just caught me by surprise; I mean… you know I’m also an Alpha, right?”

Louis rolled his eyes but there was a sweet smile on the corner of his lips. “Duh, I can smell you from miles, Harry! I just… don’t really care about genders I guess?” He shrugged and really, could he be any sweeter? “I mean, I know that in the big picture it might make a difference, but I’m just asking this very nice, smart and handsome guy that I work with to have lunch with me. If he happens to be an Alpha, so be it.”

So Harry wasn’t crazy. Louis had been low-key flirting with him for the past weeks they’d been sharing the office.

“Okay then.” He grinned and chose not to answer the rest because he didn’t trust himself. “Shall we?” He gestured towards the door while passing through his desk, grabbing his wallet. Louis was all smiling and nodding.

\---

Lunch was great, in about an hour and a half, he had learned more about Louis than in the past weeks. The guy went on about his family- lots of siblings, a lovely mom and stepdad. Harry was really infatuated with him. He was sure he was full on staring with a dumb smile on his lips, resting his chin on his palm as he listened with a lot of interest to what Louis was telling him.

Then it was his turn to tell Louis about himself, about his mom and sister, his niece and stepdad, about how and why he got this job, and even though the amount of money he had made him a bit uncomfortable, Louis’ eyes showed nothing but admiration and wonder for him as he told him about the work he did trying to give back to the community.

“That’s really amazing Harry.” His eyes were very sincere and his voice was soft. It was like they were wrapped in this bubble of warmth and softness and Louis’ chocolaty scent.

“You’re one to talk! I’ve been keeping up with the Special Victims Unit cases for a while, the job you do for these people is just incredible, it's nice to finally put a face to the name I’ve admired for some time now.” Lena had conducted Louis’ interview, no wonder he had never seen him before he moved into his office.

Louis was clearly taken back by his confession, but a wide smile soon appeared on his lips. And Harry really wanted to reach over the table and hold his hand.

“Your check, Mr. Tomlinson.” The waiter interrupted before Harry could make a fool of himself. He had honestly forgotten it was time to get back to work. 

“Thanks Dean, here.” The other Alpha handed his credit card to the waiter and then held his hands up before Harry could protest. “I invited you; you can ask me next time and pay.”

_ Next time _ . 

Harry was halfway through the goofiest grin he could show when the waiter looked down at Louis again, handing him the receipt.

“Nice to see you back, Mr. Tomlinson.” His voice had dropped a tone or two. “My number is still the same in case you’re wondering.” Then a whoosh of smell floated through the air. It was discreet but it was obvious by the way Louis’ brow rose that he felt it too and that it was directed at him.

“Sure, thanks Dean.” Louis said doing his best not to sound rude but trying to make it clear his lack of interest. Then the guy was gone to tend another table.

Harry hadn’t realized he was rumbling very lowly, his eyes shooting daggers at the poor waiter’s back, until Louis reached over and grabbed his hand, bringing him back.

“Hey.” He looked surprised but also amazed. Had Harry just low-key  _ growled _ at someone for flirting with Louis?

He startled back to reality, feeling his cheeks heat up. “Sorry. Don’t know what that was about.” He lied and tucked his hair behind his left ear. “Let’s go back to work?”

Louis was still watching him carefully, and then he licked his lips before nodding and getting up. Their way back to the office was quiet but not uncomfortable, both Alphas trying to understand what had just occurred and why.

Had Harry’s inner Alpha just tried to show claim over Louis? Fuck.

\---

The rest of the day went by smoothly and uneventfully. Their eyes connected a few times over their laptops and they would just smile at their screen. They felt like shy teenagers despite being 28 and 30. 

Harry was still very confused about his own behaviour at the restaurant that afternoon. But he chose to ignore it, just like he had been doing to the hard ons that popped every time he was in the shower and thought about a certain blue eyed Alpha.

\---

**_June 2023_ **

They went out for lunch about three times a week after that, whenever their schedules allowed. Louis pretended he didn’t notice that Harry purposely avoided going back to that restaurant, always suggesting they’d try something new every date.

Because of who they were, they didn’t need to discuss it. Maybe they should because there was no good outcome from this. Of course it’s allowed and known for people of the same gender to be together, but is a bit frowned upon, since they could never truly mate, never have kids.

Not like Harry was thinking that far down the road, he wasn’t allowing himself to be honest. But he knew it was just a matter of time before he started. The chemistry between them was something he had never experienced before, and not only in the physical sense of it but also in spirit and personality: the way they cared about their jobs, about their families and friends, their taste in food, likes and dislikes… they just clicked. 

And he really wanted to kiss Louis, just grab him by the back of the head and kiss him senseless; however, apart from dates and obvious flirting on both parts, neither man had taken any step towards  _ more _ . It was like a silent agreement that the moment someone crossed that line, they could never go back, and that would complicate things so much. It was truly unfair.

Especially when Louis was by the counter top of the scullery room, preparing some tea, he had his earbuds on as usual and his hips were swaying to the beat. He looked absolutely adorable but also incredibly hot. 

Harry watched him for a while, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, then he looked outside the corridor to make sure no one was coming and stepped inside the room. 

The way Louis stiffened for a second but didn’t turn around let him know that the other Alpha had finally noticed his presence. So he took a few steps towards him, not knowing what the hell he was planning on doing and gently grabbed Louis by the hips, a barely there touch, but enough to cause the guy to jump at the unexpected touch either way, he didn’t pull away though. So Harry moved closer, their bodies inches apart but not touching- which didn’t stop him from feeling the warmth emanating from Louis.

He brought one hand up gently and removed one of his ear buds, speaking softly. “Whatcha making?”

Louis visibly shuddered when Harry’s breath hit his skin and he nearly dropped the kettle he was holding. 

He smelled so good.

Clearing his throat he croaked “Tea.” Like that wasn’t obvious. “Want some?” He felt Harry nodding before placing his chin on Louis’ shoulders, probably taking the fact that he didn’t move away as an invitation.

And okay, alright, okay, Louis could make tea with Harry’s breathing by his ear, is not like he is an animal or anything.

But then something must have made Harry’s hands on his hips uncomfortable for him because next thing Louis knew his long arms were slowly wrapping around Louis’ front, hands resting on his lower stomach.

“This ok?” Harry had the nerve to ask, causing Louis to shudder again, every hair in his body to go up. Then, with a sudden move, he put the kettle down on the counter and turned around in Harry’s arms, his own wrapping around the taller guy’s neck, pulling him in, and closer. 

Louis opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out when green met blue so he just sighed frustrated. 

Harry pressed their foreheads together, arms squeezing him tighter around the waist, pulling a soft noise from Louis. 

“You smell good.” He said with a frown, because he had no idea why he was still talking when all he wanted was to kiss Louis.

“Fuck.” He laughed nervously, their eyes still connected. “So do you, Harry… you have no idea.”

Maybe they should break apart, since they were still at work and anyone could walk in at any moment and because well, they still hadn’t talked about what the hell they were doing in the first place.

Squeezing Harry’s shoulders one last time, Louis brought his hands down, not before rubbing them over his chest softly, to push him away gently. But Harry held on tight. Louis pushed him again, only to have him squeeze back tighter, then he pushed him with a playful laugh and Harry growled. 

Harry  _ growled _ at him.

What the fuck.

Louis’ eyes went immediately dark and the sudden force he used to flip them around in one swift movement was enough to shut Harry up.

“ _ Don’t growl at me _ .” He barked lowly, lips impossibly close. Only then they both realized that mid twist somehow he managed to get a hold of Harry’s wrists and was now holding each of them on each side of the guy on the counter.

Harry felt his inner Alpha crawl inside, the fact that Louis had tried to push him away was exactly what woke it up, and now he was being pinned against the counter. He growled again.

_ “Don’t push me then.” _ His voice sounded dark, and he could see it made Louis shiver but apart from that, it had no effect, it didn’t work as a command. They were both Alphas after all.

Fuck. That’s exactly what this was about wasn’t it? Realization hit him, causing him to shake his head quickly, pulling his wrists free and out of Louis’ hold. He took a few steps away, breathing heavily, trying to regain full control.

Was that how it would be with them? At the slightest sign of desire they would start battling for dominance? That was… dangerous. But also for some reason, it was incredibly hot if the way his cock was fattening up was anything to go by.

They just stood there in silence, avoiding eye contact for a few minutes, just listening to the other breathe. 

“I’m sorry.” Louis finally broke the silence. His voice sounded almost fully back to normal. When Harry looked at him, he noticed the guy probably had messed with his hair a lot in the past moments, strands all over the place.

“No, I’m sorry, Louis.” He apologized. “I know you weren’t challenging me or anything by pushing me away- well I shouldn’t have invaded your personal space in the first place, so I’m really sorry. Especially for growling at you.” He admitted. Eyes sad but begging and honest.

“I- I…” After taking a long deep breath, Louis finally answered. “I accept your apologies if you accept mine. I didn’t mean to manhandle you like that, it was rude of me.”

Harry nodded understanding even though he didn’t really agree. “We should get back to work.”

Louis chuckled and scratched his beard. “Right. Go ahead; I never got to finish making the tea.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t worry, luv.” The pet name slipped before he could even process it happening but the way Harry looked at him, showed he didn’t care about it in the slightest.

“Okay… I’ll see you in a bit then.” With warm cheeks, Harry exited the room before Louis could answer.

Instead of heading straight to their office, he made a beeline for the bathroom.

It wasn’t his most proud wank.

But it did its job.

\---

They fell back into normality for a while after the scullery incident. They went back to lunch dates, to flirting and joking, to helping each other with work and since they were two grownups, they obviously acted like that incident never had happened.

Because that was better.

For whom, they didn’t know yet.

\---

**_July, 2023_ **

Having Louis so close almost every day was a hard task. No pun inten- Harry grunted when he looked down at his hard on. 

It was a Saturday night and he just came home from a picnic date at central park because could they be more ridiculous? The answer is no, they couldn’t.

And it was a lovely afternoon, they had joked a lot, flirted a lot, talked a lot about their teenage years and Harry would be lying if he said he didn’t wish he could have met young 18 year old Alpha Louis, hormones all over the place. He was sure they wouldn’t have had the willing power they insisted on showing now, and wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off each other.

Louis looked so beautiful out of his work suits, just so chilled back and relaxed. 

And Harry could have just kept living without a problem if Louis hadn't fed him a strawberry. Louis had literally- as if it was the most natural thing in the world- reached for a juicy strawberry, taken a bite of it before leaning in closer and offering it to Harry, who obviously accepted without even flinching. Their eyes connected and going darker when Harry’s lips grazed Louis’ fingertips, their scents involuntarily intensifying for a second before they blinked away, both clearing their throats, cheeks heating up.

Louis sort of avoided straight eye contact after that for the rest of the afternoon, but that’s okay, because he held Harry’s hand on the way back to his car and pressed a kiss to his cheek, before pulling away with a sheepish expression, wishing him a nice Sunday.

And his hands had felt so good in Harrys, his lips so good on his skin, that the green eyed Alpha couldn’t stop himself from getting hard later that evening.

Harry went to his bathroom and let the water run while he stripped out of his clothes. Louis’ smile was already flashing in his mind, the way his charming voice sounded in his ears, like a melody recorded just for him and no one else; his intense blue eyes that were always filled with joy, the way he was looked at Harry and the way he danced to those silly Disney songs… the smell of his scent. Harry groaned in annoyance when he felt himself growing harder at the thought of Louis, he bent over the sink and splashed cold water on his face before taking off the rest of his clothes. He never felt this way about anyone regardless of gender and that was absolutely crazy.

He stepped under the water stream feeling his tense muscles being immediately relaxed, the temperature was perfect, and the water pressure was exactly what he needed.

He let the water wash out the dry sweat of his body, then he reached out for the liquid soap. Without any effort Harry’s mind drifted to Louis again, the heat of his body, the feel of his hands on Harry’s hand, the way he always told him how good he smelled-

“Fuck.” Harry groaned lowly before biting his lip. He took a deep breath trying to calm down and began to rub his shoulder and chest with a soaped luffa.

His brain wasn’t having any of it. Harry’s mind immediately pictured Louis there, his chest pressed against Harry’s back, his mouth assaulting the back of his shoulder, his hands coating Harry’s chest with that peach soap, his cock big and impossibly hard against the back of the taller guy’s thigh.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut moaning, then he sighed defeated and traveled his hand down to his rock hard cock, wrapping around it giving a tentative squeeze at the base causing him to groan again.

It seemed like ages since he last came with someone else touching, truth be told, it had been. He and Louis were seeing each other for weeks now, maybe a month or two and before Louis, he was already a while without sex so excuse him for being horny.

He moved his hand slowly, teasingly almost, his mind still seeing as Louis doing it. And Harry knew, if Louis ever got the chance to touch him, he would do it torturously slow, loving how he would be able to make the younger Alpha squirm and beg for more. It just belonged to his personality.   
  
The thought of Louis provoking him with a wicked smirk on his face made Harry moan again.

He tightened the hold of his hand on his cock, moving it a bit faster, already desperate to come. His mouth released low moans and a few gasps, his hands slippery with water and soap, his teeth occasionally biting his already bruised lips when he made louder noises.

He started to twitch his hand when it came close to the head, stopping a few times to rub his thumb over it to add more pleasure.

He was close - he could feel it. He stepped back and leaned on the cool wall for balance, his breathing was uneven and the water on his face only made it worse, stepping back he could breathe better.

Too bad for him that the Mind Louis also moved and now was on his knees, his hands moving dangerously slow up and down the taller boy’s thighs. Mind Louis looked up at him with innocent eyes before a new smirk took his face. He batted Harry’s hands away and licked the tip of his cock.

Harry’s head banged against the wall at that mental image, his hands moving so fast it almost hurt. Mind Louis closed his lips around the head, his small hand wrapper around the swelling knot at the base and Harry lost it.

“ _ Louis _ .” Harry keened, releasing his cum down Mind Louis’ throat and on the shower floor, letting the water wash it away.

When Harry let go, he came so hard he thought he might lose consciousness. And he had called out Louis’ name, because that was the only thought in his mind, and the only word he wanted on his lips.

\---

So things were good. They were pretty good for a while.

Then they went to shit.

\---

**_A week later, July 2023_ **

Harry didn’t need to look up from his computer to see that Louis’ eyes were burning a hole into him, he could  _ feel _ it… in fact, there were a few things he could feel in that very moment- One: is how the temperature had suddenly gone up in the room, it was as if someone had turned the heater on. Two: how much heavier he was breathing than just a second ago. Three: he was pretty sure he could smell Louis’ scent emanating from across the room, floating in the air, thick and dense, strong and overpowering- and that alone should make his inner Alpha go mad with anger and desire to command because  _ he was the Alpha there _ except that wasn’t exactly what was going on through Harry’s mind because  _ four _ : his cock was hardening with each pass second.

He cleared his throat and put a forced smile on his lips before clapping his hands once. “ _ Well _ , I’m knackered! Think I’ll wrap for the day.” 

He had to swallow down a gasp when their eyes met and Louis licked his lips. It wasn’t supposed to be hot or anything, he was clearly just moisturizing it or whatever but his eyes, his eyes were completely dark and Harry was pretty sure that if he was an omega, he’d get wet just by the way Louis was looking at him.

Shaking his head, pulling himself out of whatever trance he was in, Louis breathed out a laugh and scratched his beard. “Sorry luv, what did ya say?”

Harry blinked twice at him, his insides fluttering at being called  _ luv _ . “Oh, I said I think I’m heading home, and you?”

A frown appeared on Louis’ brows when he looked at his computer screen, his work not even half done because he had been too busy picturing Harry’s lips around his knot and that image didn’t even make sense.  _ Fuck. _

“Fuck.” He voiced and then laughed it off. “Sorry, my head is shit right now. My rut is coming and you know…” He shrugged because he knew Harry knew and boy did he know.

He also knew that Alphas in rut smelled terrible for other Alphas, sour, bitter, sometimes even rotten, because it wasn’t supposed to be appealing, it was made to catch omegas attention with the sole purpose of mating. But fuck his life really, because Louis smelled like pure cocoa, the most rich and pure smell of chocolate with a hint of salted caramel and Harry was pretty sure if he was a dessert, he’d love to take a bite, eat him whole.

“Yeah…” was all he could say before pushing his chair back and started gathering his things. It was quiet for a moment, really quiet; you could hear the drop of a pin if it happened. Then he heard Louis pushing his own chair back and walking slowly towards Harry’s desk, stopping midway in the office as if debating internally with himself and the other guy could see how his hands were squeezed tight in fists by his side, knuckles white.

Harry watched him, their breaths matching, heavy and erratic. Louis’ eyes pupils were completely blown, no trace of blue behind.

“Are- are you okay?” He couldn’t believe how shaky his voice sounded or just how much the way Louis was looking at him was affecting him so much, his inner Alpha trembled, aroused,  _ confused. _

The guy finally broke their eye contact with a ragged breath and ran a hand to his already messed up hair. With a scratchy laugh he answered. “Fuck I’m sorry. I probably look like a maniac right now.” He shook his head and took a deep breath, finally looking back at Harry; he seemed a bit more collected now. “My rut wasn’t supposed to come for another week; I don’t know what’s happened.”

Harry’s brow shot up in surprise but he quickly tried to make his face blank and also sound empathizing. “It happens to us all, babe. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” The pet name slipped before he could stop it. He finally closed the lid of his laptop and put in its bag and suitcase before getting up to leave. Very much aware of Louis eying every one of his moves. “Well, goodnight then!” He smiled passing by Louis in the middle of the room.

A small strong hand gripped his bicep, keeping him a few inches away from Louis and he could easily pull away if he wanted. His inner Alpha was suddenly crawling at him but not to get away, as one would expect, to get  _ closer _ . Their eyes met again, this time inches apart and his scent was enveloping Harry in this delicious and warm bubble. 

Louis let out a shuddered breath. His fingers flexing on Harry’s bicep, clearly having an inner fight about pulling him in or letting him go. He closed his eyes again and sucked in a breath, nostrils flaring. “God you smell like burnt coconut and sunset. Fuck you, why do you smell so good?”

Harry blinked at his confession and then laughed. He honest to god cackled and Louis joined him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about but I get the struggle.”

Louis cocked his head to the side, looking confused and adorable. Harry wanted to kiss him.

“You smell really good too, Lou.”

A beat passed, and then he was being pushed back against the edge of his table, the back of his thigh complaining about the sudden sharp pain from the impact, his suitcase dropping to the floor with a loud thud and Louis pressed up against him, from chest to toe, pushing him even further against the table, his hot and wet breath hitting Harry right on the chin, his mouth open as if he wanted so say something, just anything but nothing came out.

Harry’s hands were on the table behind him since he’d tried to stop the impact with them. He slowly moved one of them up Louis’ left arm, causing the hands that were now gripping tightly on his hips to hold even tighter. He cupped Louis’ face in his palm and tilted it up. He was so close. And- oh my, he was hard, he was definitely hard against Harry’s leg and there was no way he couldn’t feel how hard the taller Alpha was too. Then he felt something drop in his stomach- it was his heart, tightening in his chest- because no matter how much he- they, clearly wanted each other, he could never be what Louis needed.

With a sudden knot in his throat, he all but whispered. “Louis… we can’t- I can’t, I’m not what you need right now.”  _ I never will be _ , his mind completed for him.

Squeezing his hips one last time, the smaller Alpha pulled back and away. “Shit… I’m so fucking sorry, Harry. Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to do that I just ugh, God.” He stopped himself from saying more and pressed his knuckles to his eyes, so hard he could see colours behind his lids.

“Hey… it’s okay-“

“It really is not.” Louis laughed humourlessly. “I acted like a fucking cave man. I’ve never done that to anyone, omega or not, especially not another Alpha, Jeez you could rip my head off.”

After a moment considering, Harry answered. “I mean if I felt threatened, I guess I could, but- Louis I have no idea how to explain it… my Alpha doesn’t always want to fight yours, it doesn’t want you away most of the times, so yes you might have been a bit rude just now but you didn’t… you didn’t do anything that I wouldn’t want.” He had no idea why he was confessing like that. “But like I said, I can’t give you what you need.” He smiled sadly and then bent down to pick up his suitcase.

Louis just stared at him.

“Well… so now, good night.” He smiled again and left the office without looking back.

He wanked twice that evening, once furiously, the second time quite sadly. 

He had a terrible time trying to sleep that night. Especially after getting a text from Louis at 3:12am, one which he ignored because that was definitely his rut speaking.

From Louis **: Might not be what I need, but you’re definitely what I really want right now**

**\---**

Over the next five days he considered answering the text, or maybe just texting Louis in general, to check on him. But Harry knew that if he was too deep into rut, he wouldn’t even notice his phone. Plus he didn’t want to bother.

So he was really relieved when Louis walked into their office on a Thursday morning, until he really took him in.

He looked terrible. Gorgeous as ever of course but he looked exhausted, completely drained, as if he hadn’t slept properly in days. He smiled when their eyes met.

“Morning.” It was good to hear his voice.

“Hey.” Harry smiled softly. Then he had no idea how to act, this being the first time they saw each other after the other guy practically jumped him against his desk.

“So... had a nice week?” Louis was trying to get the attention off himself, which was obvious.

“You look like shit.”

Louis broke down into laughter. “Well thank you.”

Harry grinned because that was much better.

“Try to spend your next rut all by yourself and keep looking that good.” He stated nodding at Harry, not realizing what he just admitted. 

“Why did you?” He wanted to know. He was aware that it wasn’t his place to ask, but Louis would just tell him to back off if he didn’t want to answer.

Their eyes met. Louis walked closer to where Harry was sitting on the chair and sat on the one next to him. “There’s no one else I’d want to spend it with, Harry.” He confessed, sounding broken and tired.

“Lou…”

“I know, I know what you’ll say, you can’t right? We can’t help each other’s needs? We can’t be what the other needs? But fuck, what about what we  _ want _ ?! And I say  _ we _ because you’ve been saying yes to all of our dates and you've been flirting back all this time and-“ He took a deep breath. “And there is nothing that I want more right now than to kiss you.”

Harry didn’t think twice before jumping to his feet and crossing the distance between them, his hands immediately grabbing at Louis to pull him to stand up too, causing him to growl lowly and weakly at him, head hanging low.

“Take it easy, Haz… we both need to take it really easy or our Alphas won’t-“

Harry shut him up with a kiss, a soft one, just a press of lips because he knew Louis was right, he just couldn’t wait another second, so instead of holding him possessively, he went for interlacing their fingers, and then Louis sighed against his lips, kissing him back, in a slow closed mouth kiss, warm and a bit dry, but absolutely perfect. He opened his lips just a bit to breathe and Louis took advantage of that to swipe the tip of his tongue over Harry’s bottom lip, earning a soft groan from him and a hand squeeze, pulling them a bit closer.

They pulled away reluctantly after a while, both knowing that they would have to take things slow, one step at a time if they really wanted to try this out, whatever this was. With a last peck on the lips, Louis pulled away with a soft smile.

“How about a cuppa?”

\---

**_August, 2023_ **

Things took a nice twist from there on. They felt like horny teenagers most of the time when their eyes would meet from across the room, but they would also blush whenever the stolen kisses they shared in hidden rooms would get too heated. 

It felt weird to just not give in to his Alpha, Louis realized, but a good weird. A great weird even if the way he couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off his face if watching Harry cooking them some dinner was anything to go by.

It had been a few months since they started… whatever they were doing, and things were absolutely great, Louis hadn’t felt that happy in a long time. Sure he had been with a few omegas here and there over the past couple years to satiate his biological needs, but nothing really compared to Harry moving around in his messy kitchen, barefoot, with his work shirt rolled up to his elbows whilst he chopped a sweet potatoes and Louis sat on a chair by his kitchen table, work long forgotten in front of him.

Louis knew he was staring at the way the muscles worked on his back, the way his hair blew softly with the wind coming from the window in front of him, making his scent, being literally shoved, into Louis’ face without even trying. It was inebriating. It made his heart beat fast. It made his skin itch and all the hairs on his body stand up. It made his inner Alpha drool with want.

The way that Harry startled a bit and stopped mid-sentence (Louis had stopped listening a long time ago, he couldn’t help it, he meant no harm by it), made him realize that his scent had changed without him noticing.  _ Arousal. _

He chuckled a bit embarrassed. “Sorry.” He bit his bottom lip when Harry cleared his throat and croaked ‘no problem’ before going back to chopping, body now a bit tense, scent unintentionally getting stronger too, answering back to Louis’ desire and lust.

Louis was on his feet without a second thought. Before he could reach him, Harry dropped the knife and turned around, arms going instantly around Louis’ neck pulling him in for a kiss, strong and warm hands holding firmly on his hips, his body being pressed into the counter. He let out a soft moan into Louis’ lips when his tongue asked for access which he granted within a second, he was that weak for him. 

He was hard, of course he was hard because it’s been months since someone other than himself touched his dick and Harry was right there and Harry felt and smelled and tasted just perfectly and- yeah, Harry was hard too, he found that out when he thrusted their hips together.

“ _ Shit _ .” Harry groaned, involuntarily throwing his head slightly back to catch a breath. He sounded so good, Louis wasted no time and glued his lips to that pale delicious neck, tongue reaching out to taste just how sweet he was over there, causing him to suck in a shuddered breath. 

Things had been so good between them, but also pretty PG, both quite concerned about how their inner Alphas would react to the sexual tension and desire. So they had been keeping their lips only on each other's lips and hands above their waists. That was until now, when Louis’ hands moved to Harry’s bum and hoisted him up on the counter, moving in between his legs, mouth panting against the skin of his neck but not pulling away.

Harry’s left hand moved instinctively to the back of Louis' hair, tugging on it and pulling him in closer, hips moving on their own, seeking for some kind of friction against Louis stomach. He could cum just from that as embarrassing as that sounded.

But then Louis' lips moved to the junction of where his neck and shoulder met to suck a bite there and Harry’s Alpha snapped.

With a loud and animalistic growl he pulled him away by the hair and shoved him away harshly. Panting heavily.

Louis looked sad, confused and rejected all together and then realization hit him. He had tried to bite Harry where a bond mark would go, and he hadn’t really meant anything by it, he just wanted to taste him where his scent was strongest. But Harry’s Alpha would never accept that.

“Fuck, babe. I’m so sorry-“ He was panting too, cock pretty much visible in pants, hands lifted in surrender. “I didn’t mean to do that.” His eyes were pleading, so desperate and honest.

But Harry still felt a bit uneasy. It was the first time his Alpha wanted to physically push Louis away out of fear, feeling threatened by him. He took a few calming breaths and closed his eyes for a second. Breathing in their mixed scents this time felt different, both exciting and terrifying. The kitchen smelled heavy, dark almost, carrying lust, worry and fear.

He opened his eyes to find Louis even further away from him, with his shoulders down, and he felt like he could read his mind, like Louis was screaming how much he had screwed everything up.

“C’mere.” Harry finally said, a small fragile smile appearing at the corner of his lips as he raised his hand for Louis to take. And he did, hesitantly but he would always reach back at Harry.

“I’m sorry, babe.” He breathed out again.  _ Babe _ , there was it again, the pet name that he’d started using out of blue, Harry secretly loved it. “I went too far.”

“You didn’t.” Harry assured him, placing him back between his legs, this time with a safe distance between them, Louis hands on his thighs. He pressed their foreheads together. “I’m sorry my Alpha freaked out, I know you would never hurt me-“

“ _ Never _ .” Louis interrupted searching for his eyes, desperate for him to believe.

Harry smiled. “I know. It’s just instinct and sometimes it sucks. I’m sorry about it.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“But I am.” He sighed softly. “I wish we could sort of train ourselves… I don’t know, just, you know how much i- ok you know how much I love kissing you and touching you but God Louis.” He practically purred his name, Louis’ shudder was evident. “I want all of you.”

Louis blinked at him, and just like that they were kissing again, all tongues and filth, but hands safely on shoulders and waist.

When they pulled away to breathe, Louis confessed. “I want all of you too, Harry. So fucking much it makes me crawl inside. Honestly my Alpha can just go fuck itself because I refuse to let you go because it can’t share its ego.”

Harry grinned at him, big and stupid. “I kinda refuse to let you go too.”

Then they were kissing again. Smiles too big and in the way, but nonetheless, perfect.

\---

**_Late August, 2023_ **

“So! I’ve been thinking…”Louis announced happily a couple of weeks later, walking into their office.

“Oh no, that’s never a good thing.” Harry deadpanned and cackled when Louis went completely serious at him. “I’m kidding! Go on.” He waved Louis closer to his desk, getting up to greet him with a peck on the lips.

“As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted!” Harry chuckled again and moved to sit back on his chair, but now with his attention fully on Louis. “My mother and four of my siblings are coming over this weekend for a barbecue, grill up some burgers maybe. And I was wondering if you’d like to come too.”

There was a pink tint on Louis’s cheeks and he tried to hide it by tidying up his desk and avoiding eye contact. It didn’t work. Harry’s heart melted a bit.

“I would like that… but did you talk to her yet?” Harry knew neither of them had talked about the other to their families, due the fact that there was nothing really to talk about.

“Yeah… I told her that my work mate with whom I’ve been forcedly sharing an office with, might be free this weekend and if it was okay for me to invite him.”

Harry smirked at that. Because Louis was so full of bullshit. His office’s repair had been completely done for about two months now, but he simply wouldn’t budge from Harry’s office- now their office. Not that Harry was complaining, but he surely always gave Louis shit for that. This time he let it slip.

“Alright. I’m in.” They smiled at each other when a thought crossed Harry’s mind. “How about this? If everything works out fine, and I’m sure it will, maybe you can meet my mom next time she comes over?”

Louis felt his heart thumping against his ribcage. “Sure. But only if things work out fine though.” He joked. 

\---

Things worked out great. In fact, more than great. Maybe one tiny misstep but they recovered quickly.

When Louis’ mother arrived with two sets of twins already in their bathing suit under their cute shorts and dresses, Harry was already by the grill at the pool area, a small table with this little chef station he’d set up for himself, an apron around his waist and honest to god he bought a Hawaiian shirt that was actually unbuttoned.

Summer was hitting hard and Louis was sure that Harry would have nothing on but swim trunks if his family wasn’t there.

Jay’s voice came louder than the fit of giggles that grew closer as the two sets of twins ran their way to the backyard of Louis’ house where the pool was, almost knocking him out of breath when four pairs of arms wrapped all around his body.

“I told you not to run!” Jay finally came into sight with a shake of the head but a smile on her face.

Louis was laughing and hugging his siblings and Harry couldn’t wipe the stupid fond smile from his face.

“Alright, alright! Let me talk to my mother, you lil troublemakers!” Louis chuckled, pulling away from the kids so he could wrap his mum in a tight bear hug, getting a yelp out of her when he lifted her off the ground.

“Louis!”

He laughed putting her down, smacking a wet kiss to her cheek. “Sorry ma’ just miss you lots.”

The crinkles around his eyes as he smiled were one of the most endearing things that Harry had ever seen.

“Who’re you?” 

Harry looked down to see two pairs of round blue eyes staring up at him and chuckled nervously. 

“Hi! I’m Harry! You must be Louis’ siblings!” He knew he probably sounded over excited but he loved kids.

Louis ignored his mother’s raised brow at him and moved closer to Harry. “These are Ernie and Doris, our youngest, they are five.” He explained ruffling the twins hairs and getting a synched  _ ‘hey’ _ in return. “Those are Phoebe and Daisy, the devil reincarnated as teenagers, they’re 12.” He pointed at the two blonde girls that were already putting their things aside to get into the pool. The girls scoffed but said nothing. “This beautiful lady is my mother, Jay.” Louis nodded his head towards the woman that was walking to them. “And this is Harry, everyone. We work together, so be nice!”

_ “We’re always nice. _ ” The four twins protested in synch, causing the adults to laugh.

Harry politely reached a hand to Jay. “Nice to meet you ma’am. Louis talks a lot about you.”

“All good things, I promise.” Louis interrupted. 

Jay shook his hand with a curious look in her eyes, but her lips showed a nice smile. Her husband chose that moment to step into the yard as well.

“Sorry everyone, it was hard to get a spot to park the car.”

Louis smiled and went to give Dan a hug and help him with the things he was carrying before he introduced him to Harry. 

The twitch of his nose was obvious when they shook hands. And it wasn’t rude. But Dan was also an Alpha. The way Jay was looking at Louis let him know that it might have been nice to give them some heads up just to avoid any possible awkwardness.

But Harry had an easy smile on his face, because he was Harry, and soon enough he excused himself to go back to the grill as the rest of the family got set up for the nice lunch by the pool.

After freshening up and helping the kids with their floaties, Jay let Louis and Dan to catch up and went to help Harry with the food. The second she stood by him and got a full whiff of his scent, the smile she had on her face wavered a bit but she recovered fast. 

“Need some help, dear?”

He smiled at her and accepted. Louis had already advised him against refusing his mother’s help in the kitchen and they started a nice conversation about a bit of everything. Their jobs, the kids, the government, how everything is back in England, Harry told her about his mother and sister and Jay could easily see why her son was infatuated by this man.

She excused herself just before lunch was ready to get more bowls in the kitchen and called Louis to help her out, her son going willingly, passing another pint to Dan before excusing himself.

He barely took two steps into the kitchen before Jay’s words hit him like a brick of ice.

“You never told me you were sleeping with an Alpha, Louis.”

He gasped because she was good. Even though she probably meant a lot more than what they were doing by the words ‘sleeping together’. He opened his mouth to argue but she stopped him.

“He reeks of you, Louis. I could barely scent him because all I could smell was  _ you _ on him.”

“Mum.” He sighed. “Okay- okay… we’ve been…” Dating? No that’s not the word. “We’ve been hanging out for a while now. But we haven’t done anything.” The way her brow rose at him was enough to say she didn’t really believe. “Honestly, we’ve- we’ve been sleeping together sometimes, yes, but that’s literally it. We share a bed and we kiss, but we don’t go further.”

Jay simply crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. The children’s giggles could be heard from outside and Louis looked through the kitchen window to see Harry with his stupid giant arms open wide running after the youngest twins with a raw sausage held by tongs. He was stupid and Louis was in l-

“Really, mum! He’s great, he is lovely and we found out that we don’t really care about gender so why not try? We take care of each other, we care for each other and he makes me happy. Do I know where this is going? No. But I’m in no hurry, we’re just enjoying it and we’re honest with each other.”

That seemed to calm Jay down. She still looked concerned but nodded. “I want you to be happy, love, I just worry about you.” She reached for a hug and he hugged her back.

“I know mum, I’m being careful. I promise.”

They pulled away and Jay was looking into his eyes, searching for truthiness. He believed she found it because she nodded again. “Well then, let’s eat.”

\---

Lunch was incredibly nice, Harry just clicked into his family and that kind of scared Louis a bit. Harry even sounded genuinely upset that he didn’t get to meet Louis’ older sisters because they were caught up in trips with their friends from college. But Jay assured him that they would have more opportunities and Harry was really happy about it.

The way Jay’s and Dan’s eyes sparkled at Harry when he told them about his job, in the most humble way possible, always taking the spotlight off of himself, made Louis melt inside. The way Harry actually blushed when Jay praised him for the amazing work he was doing made Louis’ inner Alpha purr with pride and damn… that’s what falling in love feels like wasn’t it?

He was screwed.

\---

Louis’ family drove back to their hotel because it was closer to Dan’s sister and they were going there first thing in the morning, leaving him and Harry alone again. A comfortable silence between them as they did the dishes, Harry washing and Louis drying.

“Did you enjoy your day?” Harry asked with a carefree smile on his lips. Louis wanted to kiss him. So he did. 

Harry’s surprise sound was muffled against his lips and he barely had time to recover, putting a spoon down back in the sink and turning off the faucet. Hands dripping wet gripping Louis’ back.

The older man shuddered against his lips. “Cold.” He murmured dumbly before diving for another kiss, this time pressing his tongue inside Harry’s lips immediately, getting a soft groan as reward.

“Lou…?” Harry tried to question against his lips, being silenced again, this time with his bottom lip being sucked into Louis’ mouth.

“I want you.” Louis had no idea where this urgency was coming from.

Harry blinked at him. “Do you have a kitchen kink that I don’t know about?” He asked, trying to hold back a laugh while wiggling his left brow. 

Louis cackled. “Shut up.” He kissed him again, and again. Then he started walking them backwards blindly to the living room. Harry was still in that stupid flower printed shirt, a couple buttons clasped this time. Louis let his hand roam to his chest and shoulder, feeling Harry’s own fingers twitch and tighten on his hips. 

They were by the couch now and he pulled away just enough to look down at it and then back at Harry, green and blue meeting under the dim light of one lonely lamp that was on the side table. He knew his eyes carried a question, because the other man was nodding an answer within a second.

Before he could second guess himself, he lowered his body on the couch, Harry towering over him, legs spreading open so he could slip between them. Then they were kissing again, hot and wet, and Louis whimpered embarrassed when Harry finally pressed their groins together and laid on top of him.

Then he thrusted down twice, moaning into the kiss because their cocks were hard and pressing against one another.

One of Harry’s hands travelled down the side of Louis’ body, over his bum giving it a little squeeze, getting a broken moan in return. Then he grabbed the back of his thigh and hoisted it up, anchoring their bodies together and using it as leverage to push harder against Louis.

“Fuck.” He broke the kiss and turned his head to the side to breathe. Harry felt too good,  _ smelt _ too good and they were only kissing for God’s sake, well, that and grinding but still. “ _ Oh _ ” He moaned when Harry’s lips sucked softly on his earlobe, an obscene wet noise coming from it, their hips never stopping.

His fingers were tangled in Harry’s curls and he grabbed him back for another kiss. 

“I want to taste you.” Harry pulled away to mutter against his lips. Louis almost passed out at that. They hadn’t done that yet. None of that to be honest. Up until this moment their kisses had been normal, chaste, sure hot because it was them and the sexual attraction was quite obvious, but they always stopped before it became too much. Though something about seeing Harry with his family had made Louis snap inside, and suddenly he wanted more, a lot more, even if not everything just yet- he knew they weren’t ready, but he wanted more and apparently, Harry was on the same page.

“May I?” Harry smiled bright up at him and then sucked his bottom lip in. “Bet you taste so good.”

Louis groaned and crashed their mouths together, pulling him away by the hair, and he was about to apologize for being too rough but Harry moaned loudly at that and then panted.

His nostrils flared when a smell went stronger.  _ Arousal _ . Pure and raw. Louis was pretty sure Harry’s cock was dripping if the way his scent was so sexual and desperate was anything to go by.

“Fuck Haz… your smell- Yeah yeah, you can- you can-“ He was being incapable of forming coherent words. “Fuck, please suck my cock.”

Harry groaned against his lips and scooted down so fast he knocked a few cushions to the floor. His lips left burning kisses down Louis’ chest and stomach, creating a path of heat and lust. Harry’s pupils were completely blown when he glanced up at Louis from his pants, fingers wrapping at the waistband asking for permission to tug them down.

The sight itself was enough to make Louis squirm and nod. “Please.” He breathed.

Then with one tug, he was completely exposed in front of Harry, cock hard and flushed bobbing in front of his beautiful face. And Harry closed his eyes and moaned at the sight, he fucking moaned just from looking at Louis’ cock. Then he licked his right palm, eyes never breaking contact with Louis’ and wrapped his hand, warm and slick around the base. 

“ _ Oh God.” _ Louis threw his head back when Harry’s warm tongue made its first contact ever with the head of his cock.

And Harry had to be honest to himself, it felt good, really  _ really _ good, not only be the one to make Louis come apart like this, but doing it as well, the taste was nothing he would’ve imagined, he had sucked cock before sure, but never another Alpha, and it tasted really good, like pure desire and power, the skin feeling really soft on his tongue. He wanted to feel it again so he did it, and again, and again, giving small licks all over the head- his hand slowly moving up and down to stimulate him even more. He slowly wrapped his lips around the head sucking a bit on it and that’s when more precome covered his tongue and who would imagine it tasted so nice? Harry liked it so much he moaned around the head.

_ “Harry, fuck.” _ The guy was panting and Harry smirked with his reactions. The way Louis was moaning and gripping on Harry’s shoulder and hair. Encouraged by his reactions he started to suck a bit harder before pulling out a bit and licking under the head.

It felt so fucking good Louis was close already- how embarrassing- but who would’ve thought that Harry would be so good at it? Out of nowhere, he decided to dip the tip of his tongue into the slit, causing Louis to buck up, the sudden movement caused Harry to get him deeper and Louis to groan.

Harry gagged and he knew it wasn’t Louis’s fault , but he was not expecting to go that deep and he gagged almost choking and pulled away panting. Louis’s hand went to the back of his head, stroking the skin there.

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry, breathe babe, it’s ok, you can stop, it’s okay, it was great-“

“I won’t stop.” And fuck it all, his voice was raspy and lust filled and Louis almost came right there. But Harry wasn’t done, so before Louis could protest, Harry went down again, sucking harder, bobbing his head up and down, alternating the speed. He got more confidence and started to go a bit deeper too fast- he gagged again and had to pull back up but refused to pull away.

“Shhh, take it easy babe, breathe through your nose, don’t hold your breath- ah you’re doing so good, fuck,  _ baby _ …”

Harry moaned in response causing the other Alpha to grip harder on his hair. He was so hard, he didn’t doubt he could get off just from sucking on him.

“Ah Haz… So close.”

Harry took a deep breath and went as deep as possible- barely gagging this time and he noticed how Louis’ muscles contract and he moaned ridiculously louder at that, when his cock hit the back of his throat- and he moved faster, hollowing his cheeks and bobbing his head, the hand holding the cock moving up and down and his free one massaging his balls. He pulled away going back to jerk him off properly while his tongue lapped at his balls.   
  
Louis’ hips started to move on its own searching for release, one that was oh so close. Harry went back to his cock sucking and this time his moans around Louis’ dick was enough to bring him to the edge, coming inside of that pretty mouth of his – completely innocent, poor thing wasn’t ready for that amount of come, causing it to drip down his chin.

Harry helped him to get back to his pants and there was Louis, panting and gapping again while staring at Harry who was now half blushing but managed to look into Louis’ eyes.

“Wow.” Was all Louis said after a while and Harry giggled. “Oh my …Haz! You are amazing.”

Harry rolled his eyes and before he could process or do anything about it, Louis was on him licking up his chin where the cum had dripped before fully kissing him, hard and demanding, all quick and dirty full of teeth and tongue- and really, the kiss was so good that Harry didn’t even notice that the other guy was pulling down his pants until he gasped because of Louis’s warm hand on his achingly hard cock. 

All he could do was moan in the kiss and break away to say.

“You’ll make a mess.” And before he could blink Louis went down on his cock and a few sucks later he was spilling his cum down his throat.

Louis sucked him until Harry couldn’t handle any more from sensibility and gently pushed him away. Both still panting a bit and smiling at each other- Louis smirking and Harry blushing now full on.

“Wow.” Harry repeated and the older guy chuckled before kissing him again, this time softly and slowly- their favourite way of kissing.

They pulled away after a while, each adjusting himself properly back into their pants, then Louis snuggled up against Harry’s side, to enjoy their first post orgasm together. Harry’s hand moving up and down slowly on his arm, skin wet with sweat and hairs prickling up. 

“Why haven’t we done that before?” Louis asked, sounding incredulous and Harry cackled before pressing a kiss to his hair. 

“I have no idea, love.”

The pet name slipped out so easily that their hearts only skipped a beat or two. Louis squeezed in tighter. “Well, I’m dead now, you’re free to stay the night though.”

Harry fake gasped. “As if you could get rid of me now Louis Tomlinson,  _ as if _ .”

\---

They woke up on the couch a couple of hours later, with sated smiles on their faces and silly kisses on their lips.

Harry stayed the night.

\---

**_September, 2023_ **

Louis got to meet Harry’s mother, his sister, niece and stepdad not too long after that. The way Anne had looked at them with a soft and hopeful smile let him know that her son had already told her that they were more than just friends, and she was lovely about it.

Harry’s sister though, not so much. She was indeed lovely too, but overprotective for her younger brother since she was also an Alpha and it took awhile for her to put her guard down the tiniest bit to let Louis in, to actually stop making hateful remarks at him or rolling her eyes to every sentence that came out of his mouth. 

Harry had been mortified at that, he knew Gemma loved him and wanted what was best but nothing gave her the right to mistreat the guy he lo- Louis. 

But Louis didn’t even flinch at her, he would smile politely at her, still make jokes, still talk about his family and congratulate Anne on the delicious food and had a great time with Harry’s niece.

When Harry’s family left, his mother pulled Louis into an unexpected hug and whispered into his ear. “Take care of my boy. If the way he looks at you is anything to go by… I wouldn’t worry that you can’t be mates.” She left after a kiss to Harry’s cheeks.

Louis’ knew she didn’t mean any harm by her words, in fact, quite the contrary, she was basically giving her approval, but that was not the part his heart had listened to.

_ ‘you can’t be mates.’ _

\---

“We can’t be mates.” Louis whispered quietly at himself later that night, looking down at Harry who slept peacefully in his arms.

Louis never felt more awake.

\---

**_October, 2023_ **

Louis was pulling away. Harry was sure of that. He wasn’t stupid. Even though the older Alpha assured him that he was just too busy with work- which is why he hadn’t been around their office too much, or just too tired after work – which is why he hadn’t been around Harry’s place that often anymore. Or whatever other excuse he’d given Harry. It was frustrating. It was… hurtful. They promised each other that they would always talk.

Which is why Harry sat in his car for 40 minutes in front of Louis’ house on a Friday night - Fed up with this situation. And he knew he had no right to actually ask for anything, but he truly believed that Louis should give him the courtesy of being honest.

Taking a deep breath, he finally gathered enough courage to step out of the car and shuffled his way to Louis’ doorstep - knocking three times on the door.

A few seconds later Louis opened it, eyes startled, a mix of surprise and confusion.

But then Harry smelled something different.

_ Fear _ .

Was Louis afraid of him?

“What are you doing here?” He sounded anything but the strong and confident Alpha that Harry liked so much.

“I need to talk to you.” He tried not to sound upset, but the way Louis’ arms wrapped around himself told him that he failed. “May I come in?”

“Uhm.. I’m quite busy actually-“

_ “Don’t lie to me, Louis.”  _ Fuck. He hadn’t meant to use his Alpha voice, but he was so frustrated that he could help it.

Louis’ face changed into something dark. Anger. Hurt. “I told you to not use that voice with me.” Then he grabbed the door to slam it on Harry’s face, who used his body to block it and force it open, catching the other in surprise. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to talk to you.” He sounded desperate to his own ears now. “Please, Lou?”

Louis was weak for him, so he nodded and stepped away from the door. Moving to the couch, placing himself in a tiny ball and Harry loathed seeing him like that. He sat down on the couch too, keeping distance.

After a while of just listening to the other breathing, Harry finally spoke. “What’s going on, Lou? And please don’t say it’s nothing, you’ve changed, you look sad- was it, did I do something?”

He was ready for Louis to come up with more excuses, to put up more walls around himself. To his surprise, he started in a very broken voice, not looking at Harry.

“We can’t be mates.”

Harry blinked confused, because what was he on abou- oh.

_ Oh _ .

“Oh.”

“Yeah… we can’t mate, Harry, we can’t bond, we can’t have babies.” The last word was whispered and Harry barely heard it.

And what? Louis wanted those things? Louis wanted babies? Sure they got to know everything about one another these past few months but they never even once talked about-

Oh.

_ They _ can’t.  _ They _ couldn’t.

They never allowed themselves to talk about it because they knew it couldn’t happen to them. So it was like a silent agreement to just not talk about it.

But Louis was an Alpha too, and he was still young and such a good person, he was incredible and so beautiful, not just on the inside but gorgeous too. Of course he wanted to mate, to bond, to have a family. He wanted things Harry could never give him.

Now that Harry allowed himself to think about it, he felt like being under an avalanche while being run down by a truck.

Harry wasn’t good enough for him and Louis had finally realized that. So now he was pulling away.

“I’m sorry I can’t be what you want.” He whispered, words forced out of his knotted throat. He felt like passing out, he needed some air. He rushed to get up and walked quickly to the door, only to have it slammed back closed by Louis’ hand, then there was a hand on his chin, pulling him to face Louis. 

“Fuck you Harry.” There were tears in his eyes. “You’re exactly what I want. You’ve been all I want for months now.”

Harry was confused.

“I’m in love with you, you dumbfuck.”

He gasped. “But you just said-“

“That we can’t, because we  _ can’t _ , because I can’t give you babies, I can’t be your mate or bond with you and it kills me because I love you so damn much-“

Harry’s lips found his. They kissed for a bit, until Louis found a bit of strength to pull away. 

“I just told you that we ca-“

“Do you think I give a damn about any of that?” Harry looked wild and desperate, arms waving to emphasize. “Louis I don’t give a rats ass that you’re an Alpha. I never asked you to be anything other than yourself. I never wanted you to. I- I fell in love with you just the way you are, I don’t care about our gender. Will things be easy? Definitely not. Can we bond? Unfortunately no.” He sighed sadly. “But we could get married, we could have a family. There are plenty other same gender couples that have that.”

Everything about him screamed honesty. His eyes, his voice,  _ his scent _ .

“You love me.” Louis breathed.

“I do.” Harry smiled.

“You’d marry me.”

“When the time is right, yes.”

“You want a family- Harry I can’t carry!”

“Neither can I Louis! Why do you just assume that I would expect these things from you? I’m an Alpha too. Adoption is a thing, surrogacy too.”

Louis’ eyes finally blinked up to his as the Alpha took a sharp breath. 

“Do I think we’re ready? Well no, we haven’t even had sex…” He chuckled when Louis blushed. “Do I think we’ll be ready someday? Yeah, definitely. I don’t know about tomorrow Louis, I can’t promise you how things are going to turn out. But I can assure you that today I love you and today I want to try it, this, us.” 

He moved closer, pressing their foreheads together and intertwining their fingers. 

Louis was lost. He was lost in his own head, he was lost in Harry’s eyes, he felt life falling, but Harry’s hands were there to keep him grounded.

“I love you too.” He finally said. And the most beautiful grin he’s ever seen in his life appeared for a fraction of seconds before Harry was pressing their lips together. Both sighing happily into the kiss.

“Promise me you’ll try, at least try to talk to me from now on, don’t shut me out, and don’t just go assuming what my feelings might be based on our society.”

Louis felt himself blush again. “I’m sorry, God I’m such a twat. I can’t believe how childish I just acted.” He groaned and hid his face into Harry’s chest. He felt a kiss being pressed to the top of his head.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice this before, babe. We’re good now yeah?” Louis pulled back but wrapped his arms around Harry’s middle, chin resting on his chest, breath ghosting over his skin. 

“Will you stay the night?” The way his eyes darkened mid question and his scent went denser, deeper, made Harry’s inside tingle.

“I’ll stay as long as you want me to stay.”

\---

Harry ended up staying the whole weekend.

The days a messed blur of naps, food, movies and mind-blowing orgasms from each other’s mouths and hands. 

When Harry left on Sunday evening, they were officially boyfriends.

\---

**_December, 2023_ **

Louis had offered an empty drawer for Harry to use as his was absolutely full and he was mortified when Harry found a knotted purple dildo in the back of the drawer. He had actually forgotten about that damn thing because he only used it a handful of times and then lost it ages ago, until Harry found it and showed it to him with an amused look in his face.

He was an Alpha and had a knotted dildo. So what? Sue him.

Louis yelped and grabbed the toy quickly, shoving it in another drawer.    
Then he stepped away from him. “I know, it’s ridiculous! I’m an Alpha and I like to take the knot sometimes, you can laugh now.”

But Harry wasn’t laughing. Harry was most definitely not laughing. Of course they had wondered and talked a bit about how sex would work between them since neither produced slick, which meant they each had a secret stash of lube just waiting to be put to use. But finding out that Louis actually liked the feeling of a knot in his arse. Harry wasn’t laughing  _ at all. _

“I don’t want to laugh.” The hoarseness in his voice caused shivers down Louis’ spine.

Louis snorted. “Yeah, right…”

Harry chuckled when Louis tried to move away, but he was faster so he grabbed him by the wrist and pulled their bodies together, his hands on Louis’ hips. Happy that their inner Alphas were getting more and more used to this kind of thing by then, only stirring inside.

“I do think it’s adorable though …” He leaned down to whisper in his ear, causing the older man to shiver again. “In fact, that’s really hot.”

Louis sighed and closed his eyes, feeling his body respond to Harry, his body would always respond to Harry. He wrapped his arms around the taller man. “Now you’re just making fun of me.”

Harry chuckled once more. ”I’m not, I’m really turned on right now.” He finished sucking on his earlobe receiving a broken moan from the other Alpha. Then he pulled back, speaking softly but serious. “But I need to know, I’m not pressuring you or anything, am I? Do you think that just because you’re dating me that you  _ have _ to take the knot?”

Louis was positive he was shaking. What had his life come to?

“No, Lord,  _ no _ . I want you, I’ve never wanted anyone as bad as I want you.” Louis could feel Harry’s smile against his cheek when he pulled him closer. “I just… wondered someday. I have bottomed before, you know that, but since I’ve never done it with Alphas I really wanted to know what it felt like. So I got it a couple of years ago and sort of forgot about it. I’m sorry I never told you.”

“I don’t mind babe.” Came out of Harry’s lips while they were pressing open mouthed kisses all over his neck. “I have to say it was quite a surprise, you definitely twisted your nose when Niall talked about knotting last week…”

Louis was too turned on by Harry’s voice to talk about Harry’s childhood friend. He took a deep breath before stepping back a tiny little bit so he could look into Harry’s eyes. “I’d like to go to bed if you don’t mind.”

“What about food, I thought you were hungry.” Harry said genuinely innocent- they were about to order food- not getting what Louis meant causing him to roll his eyes.

“Ok, let me correct myself: Haz, I want your dick in my mouth right now if you don’t mind.”

“Oh…” Harry smirked before kissing Louis passionately walking backwards falling on the bed with the smaller Alpha on top of him.

\---

**_January, 2024_ **

It wasn’t a surprise when they came out as a couple in the office. Scratch that, it was a huge surprise and quite scandalous too, but Harry was literally the boss so no one dared saying anything. Louis had made a name for himself too so no one would mess with him either.

They had agreed to keep things private for a while, not being ashamed in any way, but simply because their relationship belonged to them and them only. Since they shared an office, it was pretty explicable as to why their scents were so present onto the other. So no one really cared.

The unmated omegas in the building still tried scenting their way up to their noses and it normally didn’t bother either of them. The trust and communication between being enough.

But at the annual party Harry hosted for New Years, that particular topic became a sore spot for them.

They were still private then and Louis had never regretted a decision so much in his life than every time he would look over at Harry and see people literally throwing themselves at his boyfriend. 

Niall, Harry’s childhood beta friend that had recently moved to New York to work with music, and easily fell into Louis’ life, was actually laughing at him.

Louis shook his head and forced his eyes to move away from Harry, taking a big sip of his whiskey. 

“Mate, you look like you’re about to rip the poor lad’s head off.” Niall kept laughing. He was one of the few people that knew about Harry and Louis, being such an important person to the younger Alpha, there was no way he could hide it. The Irish beta has simply shrugged at him saying ‘cheers mate’ before chugging down more of his beer. Later he smiled and said he was really happy Harry found someone.

“Oh Niall you have no idea.” Louis practically barked and his eyes involuntarily travelled back to Harry and the omega he was talking to from across the room.

The guy was shorter than Harry, he had brown hair, what looked like blue eyes and he was hot, Louis actually thought he was looking at an omega and younger version of himself and he could just smell the way the guy was scenting at Harry, touching his arm, moving his body slowly trying to draw him in, making him laugh with some kind of joke, that honky laugh that only Louis got from him. He clenched his jaw feeling a wave of heat leave his body and before he realized what he was doing, his boyfriend looked at him, startled for a second, then confused, then smug. Harry had the indecency of  _ smirk _ at him.

Louis had unintentionally released  _ jealousy _ in his scent and Harry had smirked at him. Louis was livid.

“Louis, calm down.” Niall’s voice brought him back. “People are watching, mate.” He looked around to notice that yes, people- about ten- were watching as he put an actual pocket show of jealousy in public, including clenched fists, possessive scenting and a growl. Louis was  _ growling _ . 

He heard an omega he knew from cybercrimes whimper a few meters away from him and bow her head, hands limp by her body. She was unmated, unclaimed and her inner omega wanted to submit to him. He took a deep breath looking at her, feeling his alpha pulse with anger, lust and desire but not at her- and next thing he knew he was being pulled away by a strong hand on his lapel.

He was well aware of the shocked gasps that surrounded them as Harry dragged him away from the crowd and outside the building, releasing his own dominance scent in his walk. 

Louis didn’t even realize where his drink went.

“ _ What the fuck was that _ ?” Harry barked at him once they were on the sidewalk, full on Alpha. Louis was done.

“You’re one to talk! You’ve been scenting up all omegas in here, and this last one huh? Just your type isn’t he?” he challenged. Harry was still grabbing him by the collar, suddenly a pair of desperate lips pressed against him, teeth knocking softly.

“Don’t be stupid, I only want you.” Harry whispered darkly. “You were the one scenting off to whoever omega out there, that girl was ready to  _ submit _ Louis.” He sounded angry now, and hurt.

That brought Louis back.

“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.” He apologized. “I was watching you and then it happened, my Alpha just flipped.” With a sigh he covered Harry’s hands with his own to get him to let go of his clothes. The man resisted.  _ “Harry.” _ He warned. They were both too worked up on their Alphas, it was better to take a break, to get some space.

Harry bared his teeth ever so slightly at him. “ _ You’re mine _ .” He barked again before kissing him again.

His inner Alpha stirred, irritated by this whole thing, hating being held, loving that it was Harry. He just kissed back until the other pulled away.

“Take me home.” Was whispered against his lips.

Louis looked over his shoulder to the building’s door, about three people were there, trying to avoid watching their private moment, but the party was definitely only talking about them now.

“The party, Harry-“

“I don’t give a shit.” He moved his lips to Louis’ ear. “Take me home and  _ take me _ .”

Louis’ eyes rolled back with those words, he took in a shuddering breath. “We’re not fucking tonight Harry.” He said trying to sound as calm as possible, as if his insides weren’t burning. He pulled away and signalled for the doorman to ask for his car. Before Harry could protest, he looked into his eyes and grabbed him by the hands, as gently as possible.

“We’re too on edge now, love. We could really hurt each other without meaning to. I don’t want to risk it.” Harry wailed but knew he was right. “Let’s just go home and cool off a bit yeah?” He got on his tiptoes and kissed the tip of his boyfriend’s nose.

Harry smiled and nodded.

\---

The car ride was silent to Louis’ house.

\---

The party was not. Niall texted them saying what had happened and how everyone was sure they were together.

They let people wonder for another week before walking into the building hand in hand.

\---

**_January, 2024_ **

On a particular night, a couple of weeks later, Harry couldn’t sleep. He simply couldn’t, no particular reason, all he could do was stare at Louis while the other man was having an apparently sweet dream if the little smile on his lips was anything to go by.    
  
They had fooled around a bit on bed a few hours earlier, they felt lazy to have a proper dinner, deciding on fruits and toast, then decided to sleep. Louis had closed his eyes and Harry spooned with him from behind but he couldn’t fall into slumber, he kept taking Louis’ scent in and listening to his soft breaths and content sighs when Harry would hold him tighter or kiss his shoulder.

Harry loved the sexual things he and Louis did together, but it was moments like this that made him feel safe and happy, he felt peaceful, it felt like home.

After getting tired of being in bed without actually sleeping he got up, went to the kitchen and drank a cup of apple juice before going back to Louis’ room, finding him in the same position apart from the fact that now he was clutching tight on the blanket as if not having Harry’s body made him cold.

The younger man chuckled silently and was about to get back on bed when something caught his attention- a notebook on top of a few books on Louis’ computer desk, he grabbed it and tried to read a few lines, it was hard with the dim light coming from lamp on the bedside table- but soon he realized that was kind of a personal diary and he definitely shouldn’t be reading it. Unluckily for his conscience though, curiosity got the best of him.

After reading a few pages the lawyer realized it wasn’t a diary where Louis wrote about his days, in fact it was full of texts and poems about dream, love, hope, fear, loss and happiness.

He went through a few more pages and decided that Louis was an amazing writer when it came to poems. He was about to close it and go to bed before Louis could wake up and be upset with him for going through his stuff when his eyes were caught by a simple question.

**What’s soul mate?**   
It’s like a friend   
But more   
It’s the  one person in the world   
That knows you better than anyone else   
It’s someone who makes you a better person,   
actually they don’t make you a better person   
You do that to yourself because they  inspire you   
A soul mate is  someone who you will carry with you  forever   
It’s the one person who knew you, accepted you   
and believed in you before anyone else did   
Or when no one else  would   
And no matter what happens…   
You’ll  always love them.

He could feel his heart was beating fast, he barely had time to process those words before Louis started to shift on bed. He quickly put the notebook where it belonged and rushed to lay down pulling Louis flushed against him.

Harry’s mind was racing and so was his heart. Their fingers were loosely entwined around Louis’ waist. The older Alpha unconsciously lifted his arm a bit and his fingers started to play with Harry’s, curling around them, stroking each finger up and down before finally settling themselves back between Harry’s. When he softly and out of instinct squeezed his hand, Louis’ eyes opened and he turned his head to look at Harry and he found the younger man staring at him in awe.

Suddenly Harry leaned down and kissed him causing him to yelp in surprise, but quickly corresponded to the kiss, his free hand going straight to his favourite place- the back of Harry’s head.

When the kiss broke Louis stared up at Harry, the soft warm light illuminating his beautiful pale face. Harry smiled lazily and shyly at him and Louis couldn’t hold back anymore.

“I want you.”

Harry purred to those three words as he found himself nodding, knowing deep inside what they actually meant, capturing his lips again in a passionate and long kiss.

\---

Harry’s heart was beating so fast that he was afraid that it might burst out of his chest. He had thought they would jump straight into it, but then Louis had pushed him gently, with a mischievous look in eyes and whispered ‘ _ want to finger myself open for you’ _ .

Harry had no idea how he didn’t pop a knot right then.

And that brought him to this moment: he was sitting on the bed, his back against the headboard, his legs wide open and his hands on his thighs, the bulge evident on his boxers was now even bigger in anticipation as Louis positioned himself on the end of the bed with a bottle of lube in his hand.

The older Alpha was flustered, but it wasn’t embarrassment, actually he was excited with what he was about to do. He never thought the idea of fingering himself in front of Harry,  _ for _ Harry would turn him on that much. Louis took a moment to think about what would look better and decided to get on his knees, his side turned to Harry so he could see his bum and his cock- which was leaking in anticipation. Louis sent a smile to Harry and received lust filled eyes and a lip bite in return causing him to chuckle at the fact that he was already driving Harry crazy and he hadn’t even started yet.

He coated his fingers with lube and reached behind himself putting two fingers in at once, he loved the initial burn. His eyes closed shut and his mouth released a groan that caused Harry to grip hard on his own thighs and whimper. Louis smirked at that before he started moving his fingers, going as deep as possible but not fast, it had been a while. He liked it a bit rough but he wasn’t stupid to the point of hurting himself.

He kept his eyes closed, enjoying it as much as possible. He could hear the way Harry was breathing hard, he could feel his eyes burning his skin as he watched Louis. His scent filled Louis’ nostrils and made him dizzy with want.  _ Arousal. Lust. Love. _

Harry was surprised with how much he was enjoying it, call him crazy but he had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life- not only Louis’s fingers in his arse, but the way his eyes were closed, his mouth open, the tiny moans, his teeth biting on his lip when he would moan louder, the way his back arched, the strong smell of cocoa filling the air and inebriating him. Louis was absolutely stunning and Harry couldn’t take it anymore.

Louis felt Harry’s body move on the bed but he was too busy fingering himself to look and see what the other guy was doing and he definitely didn’t expect a strong and lubed hand to wrap around his cock causing him to practically scream with the feeling of Harry’s thumb rubbing the head.

“Harry,  _ fuck _ .”

Harry got on his knees as well and his lips glued on Louis’s neck while never stopping the movements of his hand. “Jesus Louis, you’re so hot, why are you so freaking hot?”

“Haz… “

“That’s right babe, moan for me, come for me, I want to feel your cum on my hand.”

“ _ Fuck _ .”

“Hm…” Harry hummed while sucking on his neck again. “I wish I could…”

“You can.”

Harry’s hand stopped moving and he pulled away searching for Louis’s eyes.

“You’re sure?”

Louis only nodded, biting his bottom lip, he was surprised by Harry’s lips on his and suddenly he felt his fingers being gently pulled out and Harry’s hands were guiding him to lie down on his back.

“I’m sure, I’m ready Harry I want you. Do you want to?” Louis said between sloppy kisses and he moaned brokenly when he felt Harry’s fingers brushing over his entrance.

“Louis, I want it more than anything.” Harry said confidently, looking into his eyes and Louis smiled weakly.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.” He smiled and kissed Louis’s lips. “Just tell me what to do so I won’t hurt you.”

He knew that Harry knew what to do, but just like everything in their sexual life, they need to constantly check to make sure the other is feeling safe and comfortable.

“Yeah.” The guy nodded frantically and Harry chuckled while guiding the first finger in, it was warm and slick and the noise that left Louis’s mouth was incredibly loud. Harry moved his finger slowly, in and out, moving it around a bit while Louis was absolutely losing it, his eyes were shut again, his lips hanging open and he could form any other word than-

“ _ More _ .”

And Harry was happy to obey, pressing another finger in and now he could feel how tight Louis was, his knot was never going to fit in.

“Oh God.” Louis groaned again and Harry smirked, it felt nice to be the one to make Louis look and sound like this and Harry silently prayed that he would be the only one from now on and forever.

“Harry please, I need you.” Louis moaned particularly loud when his boyfriend scissored his fingers.

“Not yet babe, don’t want to hurt you.”

“No, please-“ Louis cried. “I need you, we can do it properly later, please Haz, I’ve been waiting way too long to have you, I can’t wait anymore, please-“

  
“Shhh.” Harry kissed him again while putting a third finger in; He was craving to be inside of him, but he didn’t want to hurt Louis.

Louis kept begging and almost sobbing for Harry to hurry the fuck up, but Harry was too gentle, he wouldn’t do that on their first time, he wanted it to be sweet and good, not rushed and good, they would have plenty time for that later.

After long fifteen minutes, Harry’s fingers were slipping in and out easily and the other boy was thrusting down on them to get more of the feeling, being an incoherent mumbling mess, finally, finally he removed his fingers and reached for the lube and then on the bedside table where he thankfully found a condom in the drawer.

He rolled the condom on his cock before covering it with extra lube, then he took his time to stare down at Louis who was panting and begging for Harry to do something and he did, he finally settled himself in the middle on Louis’s legs- that wrapped themselves as soon as possible around his hips, Louis’s arms around his neck and their lips moving sloppily again against the other’s.

One of Harry’s hands was supporting him up while the other guided his cock to Louis’s entrance causing both to gasp at the sensation. He slowly pushed in and almost lost it when Louis tightened the hold of his legs causing him to go deeper.

“Shit, Louis, slow down now yeah? I want to come after you, not when I’m barely in…” Harry managed to pant.

Louis smirked. “Not my fault you feel so incredible inside me, God, Harry, you’re so good, so big, oh shit.”

Harry chuckled and Louis narrowed his eyes before trailing his hands down to Harry’s hips and pulling his down so fast that caused him to go as deep as possible in one move.

“Shit, Louis!”

He was shaking with the sudden burn but also enjoying every inch of it and it was his turn to chuckle. “Now you can breathe and take a break but don’t you dare to get soft you twat.”

“Oi!”

Louis laughed and pulled him down for another kiss. After lots of lip biting and tongue sucking, Harry felt confident enough to pull out a bit before pushing back in causing Louis to moan and himself to groan. Oh that felt amazing, he had to do that again, so he did, and again, and again and again until they got into a rhythm where Harry would push as deep as possible and Louis would thrust down on him.

The older man was gone, he couldn’t form proper words and couldn’t kiss Harry back properly, the feeling was too strong. He was in heaven. It had definitely been worth it waiting months to have him. Harry started to push harder and faster into him and Louis’s nails were buried in his sweaty back and Louis was so out of it that he didn’t noticed when he let slip out of his mouth:

“God Harry I love you so much!”

And Harry heard it, he was pretty sure he was going to have a heart attack but he didn’t stop moving, he looked down at Louis and saw his eyes were still closed and he was talking a bunch of incoherent things so Harry realized that he didn’t even noticed he had said it, so he did what he could do at the moment, he kissed Louis with as much passion and feeling as possible, praying that Louis would feel how much he cared about him, how much he was enjoying this, how much he wanted to be with Louis.

The older Alpha was getting louder, he was panting again, he was clearly close so Harry brought his hand back to his cock pumping it with his thrusts and soon enough Louis was shouting and coming over Harry’s hand and their stomachs, knot swollen at the base, one of Harry’s new favourite things. And it was Louis calling his name that made Harry come soon after, as soon as he felt himself swell up, he pulled out, emptying himself into the condom, pressing the underside of his cock to Louis’ hole, knowing that he could feel his knot pressing against it, making him moan weakly at the feeling. His whole body going immediately limp over Louis’s, tanned arms holding him tight while they both tried to catch their breaths.

After a while Harry looked at Louis and smiled at the amazed look on the man’s face, he looked so happy, so beautiful, so perfect, so  _ Harry’ _ s, that the man on top couldn’t help but kiss him again and again, lazily and deeply until the air was needed again.    
Then Harry moved off of him and got rid of the condom before getting up to get a washed cloth so he could clean Louis who was pretty much falling asleep already and Harry giggled when he cleaned the lube off Louis’s bum and the guy sighed contently. Then he cleaned the cum of his stomach before cleaning himself and throwing the cloth away so he could climb on the bed next to Louis, snuggling closer, neither of them caring about being naked. Harry’s head on Louis’s shoulder and Louis’s arms moving automatically to wrap themselves around the Alpha.

“Night Haz…” Louis sighed sleepily causing Harry to chuckle.

“Night Babe.” He said with a grin on his face. Before Harry could fall asleep, he made sure to press a kiss to Louis’ chest. “I love you, too.” He murmured.

And he was pretty sure he could  _ hear _ Louis’ smile.

\---

Later that day, Harry told him about the diary he found, and profoundly apologized for going through it. Louis simply smiled and told him that most of those things he wrote before he was 18 and he had sort of lost the diary, but a few weeks before, while restoring some books, he found it and had the urge to put a new entry on it. 

He didn’t need to say which one it was.

Harry just kissed him senseless. (and promised to never go through his things again.)

Louis just laughed. Then kissed him back.

\---

**_February, 2024_ **

Harry could have been prepared for anything in his life, honestly. Literally anything, even dating another Alpha, because it wasn't a big deal.

But nothing could have prepared him for having his rut two weeks later he and his Alpha boyfriend had started having ‘actual’ sex.

The worst part of it is that he wasn’t even the one that caught up on it. His sister was. Because his rut was fucking early.

How embarrassing.

Her nose had scrunched up as soon as she walked in the changing room he was in- they were on a sibling date at the Shopping Centre.

“You stink.”

He had simply laughed and told her to fuck off.

“No, seriously, H.” She put the back of her hand on his forehead like she used to do when they were younger and oh- oh no. “How long ago was your rut?”

“Shit.” He simply said slumping down on a chair.

“Well, shit it is. Come on, I’ll drive you home.” It was safer anyways, she was also an Alpha and could stop him from doing something stupid.

“Okay.” Now that he’d realized why he had been a bit off for the past few days, he suddenly felt lost. He was sure it was because Louis was away on a job trip.

Oh god.  _ Louis _ .

He groaned and instinctively pressed the heel of his hand against his crotch.

“Ew! Gross, stop that!” Gemma’s voice brought him back as she turned her attention back to the road, driving him home.

“Sorry.” He apologized and pressed his head against the window.

It was going to be five long days.

\---

Louis had texted him later that night, saying he was excited to be back home the next morning and how much he missed Harry.

Harry came with a shout while humping Louis’ pillow, the feeling of his body wrapped around his cock still fresh in his mind. 

Shit.

\---

When Harry took a few minutes to answer, Louis was worried, when he took hours, he was desperate. So he called.

“lo” Harry answered his voice rough and whiney and Louis was about to freak out when a long moan came from the other side of the call and-

“Babe…” Louis breathed, running a hand through his hair. “Your rut arrived didn’t it?”

“Uh-huh.” Was all his boyfriend could offer back and by the slick skin oh skin noise, Louis knew he was jerking off. The thought alone made his cock perk up in interest.

“Oh love…”

“Lou, I need you.”

Louis gulped. He was actually outside Harry’s building. Having planned to surprise his boyfriend the night before he was supposed to be home. But this… this was dangerous. They had never been around each other when rut was on the table, apart from months back when Louis’ rut was starting and he practically jumped Harry in their office. He was about to give his boyfriends some directions and tell him to stay hydrated and walk the fuck away but Harry moaned in the phone.

“Lou… I want your knot.”

Louis gasped. He might have a kink for Harry’s knot, that was even more evident after they started having sex, but Harry had yet to bottom and he never showed interest in being knotted, now suddenly he was in rut, asking for Louis’ knot?

Fuck.

“Fuck.”

“Louis…” He whined. “I fingered myself earlier, imagined it was you, fucked myself real good, but then felt so empty, had to put a plug in.”

Harry owned a plug?

Wait Harry had a plug right in that moment? Inside of him?

Fuck everything.

Louis was moving faster than ever, within seconds he was panting and standing outside Harry’s door.

“Harry, listen to me.” He tried to sound firm. “I want you to listen to me right now.”

The constant sound and soft moaning coming from Harry’s end stopped.

“I’m outside the door- don’t move!” He added before Harry could even think about it. “I’m gonna go in thirty seconds and I want you to try and be coherent. If you don’t want me to touch you, I want you to get up and lock your bedroom door for me. Am I clear?”

He heard his boyfriend swallow. “Yeah.” And then the call went dead.

Those were the longest seconds from Louis’ life but then he finally used the keys Harry had given him a few weeks ago and walked in. The first thing that hit him was the warmth and then the smell, the sweet coconut smell he loved so much, it was the strongest he’d ever felt. He closed and locked the door behind himself quickly. Wiping his sweating palms on his jeans and stepping towards Harry’s room.

The door was open. He stopped himself in the middle of the hallway, just breathing in the delicious scent.

“Louis, I can scent you, please come here.” He sounded so good.

“Oh baby.” Louis reached the door and the scenario in front of him was absolutely obscene. Several towels were thrown across the floor, the duvet all over the place, clothes on chairs and drawers knobs and then there was Harry. Naked and pale, glistening with sweat. One hand wrapped around his very tired and flushed cock, the other holding two fingers inside his lips as he sucked them thoroughly, legs wide open, showing everything, including the blue plug that was nestled between his cheeks, being pushed deeper in with every thrust of his hips.

He was a piece of art.

Louis loved him so much.

“Love you too, Lou, please- please give me your knot.”

“Baby that’s not how it works for us.”

“How will we know huh? Nngh, gotta try, want to try, please, I need your cock, need your knot, I promise I’ll word out if it is too much.”

“Love-“

“Please Louis! Make me yours, take me…  _ mate me. _ ”

And as it’s been said before: Louis is weak for him.

\---

**_June, 2024_ **

It surprised a total of zero people when on their one year anniversary (they started counting on the day they shared their first kiss) , they decided to move in together.

From then on, things were only better and better, if that was even possible.

\---

**_October, 2024_ **

They would be attending a party later that evening. Louis was sitting on the bed, resting back on his hands as he watched his boyfriend get ready for it. Harry looked like a sin. Like something out of a magazine that should be rated over 18 and not be shown to just everyone with eyesight.

“I can feel your eyes on me.” He had smirked after a while, not taking his eyes off his own reflection in the mirror while he applied non colored mascara, just to make his lashes pop.

Louis scoffed. “You’re wearing a fucking sheer shirt, Harry.”

“So?” The younger Alpha sighed, feigning annoyance.

“You literally leave nothing for imagination.” He got up from their bed and walked to him, gluing his body to Harry’s back, crotch pressed the bottom of his arse. “Especially this.” His fingers danced over Harry’s torso to pinpoint his tattoos there, stopping on a love bite right in the middle of the moth’s feelers that he had left there the night before. He pressed down on it softly, knowing it would still be tender and how much his boyfriend loved that.

Harry shuddered at that, their eyes meeting in the mirror over his shoulder. He forced himself to put a poker face on and push Louis away with his arse- he refused to be that easy for him.

“Not my fault you’re so territorial.”

Louis smirked and pressed back against him, fully aware he was being played with and if Harry actually wanted him to stop, he would tell him to and he would step back in a second. “You love it.” He muttered before gripping his hips, lips moving slowly on the side of his neck.

Harry swallowed soundly. His Alpha would always correspond to Louis’ body. “I deny such false accusations.” He retorted while sighing and exposing his neck for more kisses, make-up forgotten.

Louis laughed darkly on his skin. “You know how much I love your scent, yeah?” Harry nodded. “You smell fucking filthy tonight, just as dirty as you look.” He groaned and pressed his semi hard cock on his arse just to prove a point. “You look even prettier tonight, baby, don’t know how that’s possible.”

“Shut up.” Harry mumbled, red all the way up his ears. He felt pretty confident about himself, having learnt how to love his body a long time ago, but having Louis praising him was too much sometimes.

“I mean it, love. And your scent- fuck-“ He inhaled sharply, nose buried into his skin. “You smell like a fucking sin. Should lock you up and fuck you until you were smelling like nothing but my scent, that way no one will try to take you from me.” Somewhere mid-sentence he had managed to open Harry’s pants and slip his right hand into it, the other playing with his nipple over the sheer black blouse he had on.

“Louis.” Harry moaned. “Don’t want anyone but you.” The way his scent intensified was enough to prove he was saying the truth.

“Good. Because no one gets to touch you like this, do they?” His expert fingers were teasing Harry’s cock, making him drip precome already.

“Fuck you.” Harry barked out and turned around, crashing their lips in a wet kiss. Louis laughing smugly into it, hands going inside Harry’s boxers to spread his cheeks, a dry finger rubbing teasingly against his hole. “God I hate you.” Harry groaned and then laughed too, walking him backwards to the bed. " _ Louis _ ." The man mewled before pushing his boyfriend on the bed and straddling his lap.

Louis chuckled smugly again into the kiss before letting a free hand roam over that body he loved so much as the other kept teasing his rim.

Harry pushed back against his finger before groaning frustrated and kissing down his chest and popping his button open on his way down.

They would probably be late for the party.

"Oh baby..." Louis breathed as Harry's mouth teased the head of his cock through his boxers, wetting the fabric. "Come on love, I was teasing you, we don’t have long, we can do this later."

Harry hummed around the head and pulled away to speak out: "That’s a problem you got yourself into. Now don’t rush me, I want your come down my throat, deal with it." Before tugging the boxers out of the way and diving all the way down.

They were definitely going to be late for the party.

\---

**_September, 2025_ **

The thought had crossed Louis’ mind, only about a million times and he even let himself wonder the eternal possibility of what if. Just what if he and Harry tried to bond? Was it even possible? The many searches on the history bar of his Chrome told him no, in fact in many ways, a bunch of alarming and flashing articles about why an Alpha should never and I mean  _ never _ even consider the possibility of bonding to another Alpha but it was 2025 for one’s sake, he couldn’t simply believe that in two millennia of existence, a couple haven’t loved themselves that much to the point of going against biology and making it work. At least that gave him hope.

Which is why he’s been waiting outside the office of  **Dr** . George Huang, an Alpha Psychiatrist that’s worked several cases for SVU in the past.

Opening up to someone was already hard enough as it was, but being open about something that sounded so different from everything he had been taught was a whole nother level.

Dr Huang was very nice about it, he knew it wasn’t really a session and Louis wasn’t there to be analysed, he simply needed some advice and some expertise of someone he could trust more than well… the actual internet.

“So, is it possible?” He didn’t think he could speak louder if he tried. His throat felt so tight with the unbearable possibility of the answer being a simple “no.”

The doctor was quiet for a while, considering the options, weighing how much of the truth he believed Louis could handle. 

“Possible? Maybe.” He began. “Dangerous? Absolutely.”

Louis released a shaky breath and nodded for him to continue.

“Our bodies weren’t made biologically to take a bonding mark… So this experience that is often described by omegas as ‘an explosion of colourful fireworks’, to us could just as well be like a hundred torches being put out on every inch of our bodies. It’s not pretty, it’s painful, it’s despairing and it might not work at all.”

Louis felt his shoulder slump down in utter defeat.

“But there have been cases of success, of course there have! But it’s not easy, and there is no guarantee that it would work.”

Louis ran a sweaty hand through his hair and nodded. “If we wanted to try?”

Dr Huang was quiet once again watching the Alpha in front of him, as if trying to decipher just how serious he was about going through with that. “You would both have to mark one another, which alone wouldn’t be easy, your bodies would fight it, your inner Alphas would fight yourselves, for it to have the slightest chance of working, you have to feel so strongly about one another that a bond seems pointless, like your feelings are stronger than that bond could ever be.”

“It is.” Louis added in a heartbeat. “They are. It’s mutual, we’ve discussed it.”

The doctor nodded, not even a bit taken back by how serious and urgent the other man sounded. “You need to understand Louis, it’s not gonna be like fireflies on a dark summer night, it will be more like moths attracted to the flames and it will burn like nothing you’ve never felt.”

Louis was quiet for a while. “If it doesn’t work?” He sounded like a stranger to his own ears, voice carrying too much fear for the answer. 

“…Your Alphas will reject one another from that point on, there is no turning back.”

A loud gasp was the last thing Louis heard himself release before he was shaking with silent sobs, burying his face in his hands and crying like never before.

\---

“Heeeey!” Harry’s grin later that afternoon was the best thing he could ask for when he walked in their apartment after crying alone for a while in his car. The smile went away as soon as he took a look into Louis’ eyes and saw how red and puffy they were. “What happened?” He hurried from the kitchen area, untying the apron and throwing it on the counter before getting as close as possible and cupping Louis’ face in both hands, searching for his eyes.

With a tightness in his chest, he lifted on his tiptoes and pressed his lips to Harry’s, sighing when they touched.

“I want you.” He whispered against his lips, diving straight back to another kiss, trying to deepen it without giving the other guy a second to process, hands going down to squeeze Harry’s arse.

But he pulled away with a confused expression, hands oh Louis’ shoulder, pushing him away a bit but keeping him close. “No, hey… talk to me, babe, what’s wrong?”

Louis just shook his head and surged forward again, this time with more intent. A low unintentional growl escaping his lips when Harry stood his ground. “Harry! Please I need you.”

“Don’t growl at me Louis.” His voice was firm but ever so gentle. “I can give what you want but after you talk to me, clearly there’s something wrong.”

Defeated, the older Alpha sighed and pulled away. “Fine, I’ll take a shower or something.”

“No.” Harry grabbed him by the wrist and on a swift move pushed him down on the couch, straddling his hips. His eyes dark but mostly with annoyance. “Don’t try to escape me when I’m here for you.” He lowered his voice and pressed their lips together once, twice, then moved his across Louis’ scruff, stopping by his left ear, speaking lowly. “You can have me all you want, but I’m not your fuck toy Louis, I’m your boyfriend, so I want you to share things with me. We’ve been through this before.”

And they have. Quite a few times over the past two years they had been together. Being great at talking is not the same thing as being great at communicating and since they were both Alphas, the instinct to simply growl and dominate an argument was more common than an actual grown up conversation. But they were constantly working on it and things were much better.

Louis’ hands went to Harry’s hips, just to touch him. “Harry… of course you’re not my fuck toy, Jeez, you know how much I hate when you say things like that.”

“Then don’t shut me out you fucktwit.”

Louis actually laughed at that. “I love you. God I really, really love you.”

Harry’s smile was blinding. “I love you too. Now I won’t push but please know that you can talk to me and I want you to do so instead of just trying to get in my pants.”

“I know that. I just really wanted you.”

“Wanted?” Harry pulled away with a raised brow. Louis chuckled.

“Want. Always want you.” His left hand travelled to Harry’s arse, pulling him close, the other going to the back of his neck and pulling him for a proper kiss. “I promise I will talk to you, I just need to process it first okay?” And obviously that now familiar scent of burnt coconut and Harry’s warmth was enough to get his cock at least half interested.

Harry kissed him again, pressing closer, rotating his hips very slowly, not even trying to stop himself from releasing a bit more of his scent directly into Louis’ space, getting a soft groan in response.

“Bed?” The older Alpha asked, feeling already a bit lightheaded. Voice deep and eyes dark. 

Harry giggled and then yelped when they were suddenly standing, allowing himself to be carried into their bedroom with Louis’ strong arms around him.

\--

It didn’t take long before Harry was collapsing on top of him, chests heaving and sweating, room filled with the mixed scent of sex, cocoa and coconut. 

Louis was half down on his stomach and half on his side, he didn’t bottom as much because fuck if Harry’s knot wasn’t huge. And even if they didn’t really knotted inside the other every time they had sex- since it wasn’t as comfortable- and turned out that Harry was just as a knot slut as Louis was so they got really lucky in that department. But Harry always made such a mess in bed, coming way too much for it to be healthy, but it was incredibly hot and impractical, because well of course they stopped using condoms ages ago, both being clean and neither being actually capable of getting pregnant.

Louis felt sad all over again and he didn’t mean to let it out through his scent, though he knew he had as soon as Harry started pepping kisses along his shoulder blades.

“What’s wrong, Lou?” He asked softly, ready to drop the subject if the other guy didn’t want to talk about it yet.

To his surprise and Louis’ himself, the blue eyed Alpha sighed once and twisted his body so he could look into Harry’s eyes, not even caring about the absolute mess on his lower back and sheets.

“I want a family, Haz.” 

The way Harry immediately froze made him regret his choice of words immediately. 

“I want a family with you, you idiot.” He smiled when Harry’s swollen kissed lips formed a small shaped ‘o’. “I know we can’t carry, and I know we’ve talked that we’re enough and we  _ are _ , God you are it for me. But- But I want more, so much more with you, I want all of it, I want kids, I want to get married and i-“ He braced himself because it was like a silent agreement between them to never mention this, since it seemed impossible. “I want to bond with you.”

The sharpness of Harry’s inhaling worried that he might hyperventilate himself. “Louis- We’re-“

“Alphas.” His voice sounded bitter to his own ears. “But we are also people who love each other and deserve  _ everything _ that we can have and we can have this, all of it- we can adopt, we can use a surrogate, we can get married basically whenever, wherever and we can- Harry we  _ can _ bond. It’s risky and painful and- and probably the worst experience of our lives to get through but I am so willing to try it with you because I know you’re it for me. You’re my mate, I’m yours and I don’t give a shit if biology or whatever got it wrong. I trust in our love enough to know that it would- that  _ will _ work. If you’re willing to try it with me.”

“Louis…” Harry finally said after a minute or two taking in everything Louis had said. “There is nothing I want more in this life than all of what you just said. We would- we would have to take our time though, I’m not ready for that yet, we are not and I think you agree with me?”

Louis nodded. Because he did. Didn’t matter how much he wanted all of those things, they were not decisions one could change and take back, they were for life. He simply knew he had made it already.

“So yes, Louis-“ Harry went on with the most beautiful smile in the world. “I’m willing to try it all with you, when the time comes. I want to be your mate.”

Louis cried a bit at that, but he hid it with the passionate kiss he pressed to Harry’s lips. “I can’t wait to be your Alpha.” He joked with a glint in his eyes.

Harry smiled with a blush in his cheeks. “And I can’t wait to be yours.”

\---

**_August, 2028_ **

If you asked Harry how he imagined his wedding day, he would probably have laughed it off, saying he just expected it to be with the person he loved, having his Family and friends around, maybe on an afternoon to watch the sunset, maybe at the end of summer, maybe his suit would be grey and his tie a nice Bourbon shade.

Harry had everything he imagined for his wedding, except his partner. He never in a million years even considered the possibility of falling in love and marrying another Alpha, but when he saw Louis waiting him down the aisle, he knew there was no other way he could be doing it.

They got married a few months after celebrating their fifth anniversary together, just because there was no rush for it. They already belonged together from the day Louis moved into his office, there was no going back.

They talked a lot about marriage and kids, and also about mating. But they already felt so much like each other’s, there was literally no rush, things just kinda happened.

After a couple of years Louis had started studying again and now he was known as Judge Louis Tomlinson, Harry couldn’t be more proud of his husband. Sadly that meant they didn’t share an office anymore because Louis had his own chambers now, though it didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, they always came home to each other.

It wasn’t always easy; they would forever be two Alphas with two strong personalities and be their own people with their own minds. But respect, honesty and communication were the ground rules in their relationship, that’s how they worked. That and a lot of love. The unspeakable amount of breathtakingly good sex helped too.

They learned to work their ways through their ruts together, they learned to decipher every secret there is to know about the other’s body, and they allowed themselves to surrender completely into trust and desire. They learned to be loved and to be in love.

That’s why Harry couldn’t wipe the stupid ass grin from his face when he looked down at Louis on the day after their wedding. They took a six hour flight to a small private island, the time difference making them arrive just past midnight, both absolutely dead to the world to do anything other than kiss until sleep took over them.

When the sunlight hit his skin from the glass window wall of their hotel room, his body instantly felt awake. The heat coming from the outside, the sound of the waves and the noise of the seagulls by the shore, let him know that he wouldn’t be able to sleep more.

He glanced down to where his husband- god, Louis was now his  _ husband _ \- was sleeping on his chest, pressed a kiss to the top of his head before extracting himself as quietly as possible from the bed. Louis only groaned a tiny bit and rolled to the other side, making him smile. He loved him so much.

Harry decided on a shower, feeling a bit dirty from the last day still.

The cold water was a nice contrast from the heat of the island, and he was pretty sure his rut was just around the corner if how sensitive to Louis’s scent and warmth was any indication. The thought of his husband enough to make him groan and get hard, the tip of cock rolling out a drop of precome.

Without any effort Harry’s mind drifted to him, the warmth of his body, the way his hands felt on Harry’s face and hair and body, his knot, the blush on his cheeks whenever he was put on the bottom, the way his eyes were completely blown with ecstasy, the tiny little gasps and moans and-

“Fuck.” Harry groaned loudly before biting his lip, his mind immediately pictured Louis there, even though he was just a few meters away- his chest pressed against Harry’s back, his mouth assaulting the back of his shoulder, his scent filling the tiny bathroom.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut moaning, then he sighed defeated and traveled his hand down to his rock hard cock, wrapping around it giving a tentative squeeze at the base causing him to groan again.

“Are you seriously wanking with me just on the other side of the wall?” Louis’ voice snapped him out of it. He looked straight rolled out of the bad, arms crossed in fake annoyance, boxers low on his hips, cock obviously half hard with interest. 

Harry laughed, a blush obvious on his cheek at being caught.

“You’re unbelievable, Harold.” Louis shook his head and stepped towards his stupid husband who still had his big stupid hand wrapped around his stupid hard cock. The shower had a see through glass, Harry couldn’t hide even if he tried, and obviously he didn’t. “You’re so desperate for it, aren’t you?” Louis huffed and dropped his boxers, pulling the shower door open, finding Harry’s smug smirk aimed at him, hand going back to stroking his cock. “Can’t even sleep on your own honeymoon, had to wake me up with this stupid scent of yours.” He slapped Harry’s hand out of the way to wrap his own around his dick, tugging him forwards by it, making him hiss, loving the slight pain.

“Sorry.” Harry laughed biting his lips, eyes rolling when Louis’ thumb rubbed over the head, spreading the wetness there.

Louis clicked his tongue, still pumping his cock, ever so slowly. “Sorry my arse. Couldn’t even wait for your husband to wake up to take care of you, had to do it yourself.”

They both started grinning a word  _ husband _ , Louis’ faced falling as fast as his boxers had. Harry pulled him into a kiss, making him yelp when the cold water hit him.

“Sorry, husband, started thinking about this delicious mouth of yours on my cock, couldn’t help it.” Harry’s smirk was evident in every word.

Louis rolled his eyes playfully then pulled him by the back of the neck for another filthy kiss. “Just for that, I think  _ I _ deserve your delicious mouth, don’t you agree?” He wiggled his eyebrow and Harry honked a laugh.

But a second later he was on his knees, Louis’ fingers tightened on his locks.

“Your wish is my command,  _ husband _ .” Harry smiled before diving in.

\---

They had their first married sex after shower, it felt as incredible as always, but with a touch of more, neither could explain, but they didn’t need to, both felt.

Harry could still feel Louis inside of him and he absolutely loved having his boyf- husband’s knot inside of him; he was a real slut for it and he was proud of it, he could write sonnets about how good it felt, honestly.

After some fruits and coffee from room service, they sat entangled in bed in their boxers, watching the ocean, listening to each other breathing, inhaling their scents mixed together. Harry sitting in between Louis’ legs with his back pressed to his chest, everything felt just right. Meant to be.

When Harry blinked up at Louis and green met blue, a silent question was answered by a silent answer. They were ready. 

They moved slowly, the world frozen around them, nothing but the sound of waves crashing on the sand and the sound of their breathing.

Louis moved them on the bed to sit in between Harry’s legs, his own wrapping around his waist as their foreheads touched, hands tracing invisible patterns on the other’s backs and arms and anywhere they could reach. Louis opened his eyes not knowing when he had closed them to find the other Alpha staring into his soul, finding nothing but love and trust. Harry’s grin met him and he felt like suffocating with how overwhelmed he felt.

“It’s time, Lou.” Harry whispered, not wanting to disturb the peace.

It was time. Time to cross the last line. The only thing that still kept them apart. It was time to become each other’s mate.

They had done lots of research after the first time Louis proposed it. They felt ready. They knew there were chances of rejection in theory, but in reality they never thought of it as a possibility for them because what they felt was too strong. And even if it didn’t work, they would find a way. Harry and Louis would always find a way.

Louis reached for his hand, the one that now carried his wedding ring and pressed a kiss on it before nodding.

They had discussed how they wanted to try it, if it ever came down to it- because of course either of them was free to back down at any moment, mating, bonding is not something to just try, is a life changing decision and they chose together.

“I love you, Harry.” He assured him because he could, even though he didn’t need to. Harry knew.

“I love you too.”

Louis moved carefully forwards, kissing him slowly but passionately, trying to pass through that kiss everything he was feeling in that moment and he knew Harry could feel it, that’s how strong their connection was. Then he kissed down his neck softly, no heat behind it, realizing as much love and care as possible in his scent, Harry’s hands holding tight on his shoulder, embracing for what’s to come.

With a deep breath, Louis pressed one last kiss to the junction of where his neck and shoulder met, then he bared his teeth, hands holding tight on his husband’s waist and his mouth came in contact with his skin. Then he bit down, slow and firm, enough to break the skin. His heart thumping like thunder playing drums.

Harry’s nails started clawing deep into his back, enough to leave a mark as he bit down a sob and a pained whimper. 

Then he lapped over the bite with his tongue and Harry started shaking in his arms. He held him for a while. Feeling an invisible line leaving the core of his chest, faint, barely there, but definitely existent, the need to protect Harry even bigger now, as if a priority, as if Louis’ only goal in life was now to make sure Harry was safe and loved.

He pulled back to look at him. There were tears in his eyes, his lips eyes trembling and Louis felt like a knife to the heart. He had hurt Harry, unintentionally of course, but it was inevitable.

“Baby?” He asked softly, reaching to dry his tears. 

Harry gasped at the sound of his voice.

When Louis bit into him, the first thing he felt was pain, blinding and burning pain, as if he had been stabbed with a thousand fire swords, he has never experienced such pain in his life. Then he felt his Alpha crawling, growling, yelling at him, like a wild animal trapped in a cage, begging to be let out, his Alpha was fighting the bite, his Alpha was fighting their bond.

“Hurts.” He sobbed and sniffed.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

Being around Louis now was suffocating; every inch of his body was telling him to run, to fight him.

“Do you want to keep going, love?” Louis’ soft and loving voice brought him back, his lips pressing burning kissed to his cheeks.

Harry took a calming breath and nodded. “I want nothing more than to be completely yours and for you to be mine.” He had to assure Louis, and his own Alpha.

Louis smiled at him. “I already am.”

Harry kissed him once, hands still trembling, lips numb. Then he moved into a better position and stared into Louis’ loving and caring eyes. His inner Alpha was such an idiot to think this man could ever harm him in any way. Before he could wait any longer, he moved forward and pressed a kiss to where the bond mark would go, Louis inhaling sharp against him- then he bit down.

“Shit.” Louis instantly gasped and gripped tightly at his back.

It burned, like nothing he ever felt before. Like diving into an active volcano. His Alpha growled for a second and his hands tried to pull Harry away for a second but he held his ground, while his husband started healing the wound with his tongue. 

A beat passed and they just held each other. Suddenly they gasped in unison and Harry pulled back with a hand covering his mouth, eyes watering at the overwhelming feeling. Green meeting blue for the thousandth time. But also for the first.

It was like an electric pulse running through their veins to the very tip of their fingers, they could  _ feel _ the other inside of them somehow, the blissfulness, the shock, the wonder, the love,  _ the bond _ . It worked. They were now bonded for life.

That thread Louis thought he had imagined connecting his heart to Harry’s was now practically visible to the two of them and it was unbreakable.

They started giggling through tears, professing their love to each other before Louis pushed his mate back on the bed and started kissing him with all the passion he could.

Harry and Louis both now smelled like dark chocolate and coconut, and they’ll always tease each other for that.

\---

**_November, 2040_ **

Louis was never a morning person, and being awakened with a constant nudge on the tip of his nose was most definitely the most annoying feeling in the whole world. There were only a few people in this whole universe that could get a pass on that and one of them was still snoring softly in front of him. 

The lazy smile that slowly formed on his lips when he started to feel awake enough to be more aware of his surroundings on that Sunday morning. There was a knee pressed to his back, a body bent over his shoulder and a pair of big deer eyes looking down at him as the chubby little fingers kept poking the tip of his nose. The sweet scent of fresh picked peaches waving towards him. He pulled his arm from around Harry’s wait to hold at the non-stopping hand, bringing it to his lips softly before slowly rolling on his back, finally opening his eyes.

“G’morning, monkey.” He rasped out looking up into a pair of huge blue eyes and chubby cheeks.

“Morning daddy!” Theo squealed over excited as she always was on the weekends, covering her mouth to stiffen her giggles when Harry groaned at the sound in his sleep. “Sorry!” She whispered and looked back down at Louis, pressing her hands to his chests as she sat back on her heels, her golden blonde hair all over the place. “I got hungry, you sleep too much!”

Louis chuckled at her while trying to fix her hair, it was no help, and he would have to comb it later. He glanced at the clock on the side table. “It’s not even 7 o’clock, love.”

She pondered for a second. “Oh.  _ Sorry _ .” Then she exaggerated a grin as if he would ever call her out for that. She was only four and a half, after all.

He shook his head and brought her hand up for another kiss. “Your sisters awake yet?” He questioned, quite sure the ten months old twins Ellie and Luna were still sleeping otherwise the baby monitor would have woken them up already. And their older daughter Olivia was a 12 year old pre-teen that could barely get up that early on school days, let alone weekends. So he knew already that Theodora, being the energy bundle she was, definitely was the only up.

“Nope.” She looked bored already with their conversation and he knew there was no point in trying to get her to sleep again without at least a glass of milk when she started to get fidgety- she was such a Louie it was hilarious. 

“Alright, alright, go to the living room, daddy will meet you there in a bit.”

“Okay!” She jumped off the bed and ran out of the room before he could tell her not to do exactly that.

He chuckled again and detangled himself from the sheets as slowly as possible trying not to wake his mate up but Harry’s hand held onto his wrists, a small smile on his lips when he said.

“You’re the one who wanted five children.” His eyes were still closed. Louis loved him so much.

Of course they had a fifth child on the way, their first boy, a sweet little boy named Noah they were adopting and that would be coming home a few weeks from then- they couldn’t be more excited. He was seven and was such a smart boy, kind and polite too, Harry and Louis fell in love with him the second they met and wanted to take him home instantly, but adoption was such a long process. They still made sure to visit Noah at least twice a week with the girls and they all seemed like they would get along really well. (Spoiler alert: They do get along so well that Olivia, their oldest daughter, shares an apartment with her brother Noah when he goes to the same University as her, years later.)

“I love you so much.” Louis simply answered, bending down to kiss his forehead. “Now go back to sleep and be thankful I’m her favourite dad otherwise she’d be waking you up at this awful hour.”

That had Harry opening his eyes at him and glaring. “Get out of my bed.”

Louis laughed but bent down to kiss his husband’s lips anyways, they both smiled into the kiss.

“I love you too, idiot.” Harry finally said. “ _ Now get out! _ ” He grunted jokingly.

“Such an Alpha!” Louis laughed heading to the door, swaying his hips just because he could.

Harry smiled at that. “I’m  _ your _ Alpha, though.”

Louis smiled back. “I’m your Alpha too.”

Then he was out of the room, to start another eventful Sunday in the Tomlinson-Styles household. A day filled with giggles and shouting, puzzles, movies, delicious food, banter between the sisters, naps and  _ I love yous… _ Yeah… pretty much like any ordinary day.

-Fin

**Author's Note:**

> \------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> I'm posting this as a definite note to all my fics that I DO NOT AUTHORIZE any kind of reposting of my work without personally reading and approving it (in cases of translations with proper credit), anything other than that will be immediately reported to AO3 or any other platform.  
> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> "What's a soulmate?" Quote is from tv show Dawson's Creek - 1998
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> If you've made it this far, i'd really like to thank you and i really hope you enjoyed this!♥
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://getmesometacos.tumblr.com/)
> 
> You can reblog the fic [ here ](https://getmesometacos.tumblr.com/post/617960351098683392/iron-hearts-fire-souls-by-hopelesswriter) if you'd like   
> All the positive thoughts and good energy to you all.♥
> 
> Xx


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